THE  WAY 

OF  THl 
EAGLE 


By 


■^jii^.. 


(Ml* 


THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 


"I  therefore  stood  there  with  my  posies  like  some  June  bride, 
looking  as  self-conscious  as  I  felt."   [Page  245.] 


THE 
WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 


BY 

MAJOR  CHARLES  J.  BIDDLE 

E8CADBILLE   N.  73;   103D   AERO  SQUADRON    (eSCADRILLB   LAFATETTE) 

13th  aero  squadron;  4th  pursxht  group 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRCBNER'S  SONS 

1919 


"I 


COPTEIGHT,   1919,    BT 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 


PubUshed  June,  1919 


OLIVER   MOULTON    CHADWICK 
KILLED  IN  ACTION.  AUGUST  14,  1917 


435 1G4 


FOREWORD 

In  order  that  any  one  who  may  chance  to  read  this 
book  of  letters  may  better  understand  the  detailed 
descriptions  of  fights  in  the  air  which  it  contains,  cer- 
tain fundamental  facts  of  a  more  or  less  technical 
nature  should  be  at  all  times  kept  clearly  in  mind. 

As  every  one  knows,  there  are  many  different  types 
of  aeroplanes  specially  adapted  to  as  many  different 
uses.  Among  these  there  are  three  distinct  classes 
which  cannot  be  confused  without  resulting  in  an 
almost  complete  failure  to  appreciate  the  tactics  of 
air  fighting. 

These  three  classes  are:  first,  the  small  single-seater 
fighting  plane  known  to  the  French  as  an  ''avion  de 
chasse,"  to  the  English  as  a  "scout,"  and  to  the 
American  Air  Service  as  a  ''pursuit  machine."  Next 
comes  the  larger  type  used  for  the  taking  of  photo- 
graphs and  gathering  of  information,  the  regulation  of 
artillery  fire,  liaison  work  with  the  infantry,  and  the 
dropping  of  bombs  from  high  altitudes  during  the 
daytime.  This  type  usually  carries  two,  sometimes 
three,  men.  Finally  we  have  the  great  multi-motored 
bomber  equipped  with  two,  three  or  four  engines  and 
carrying  a  crew  of  from  two  to  eight  men. 

The  pursuit  plane  is  the  smallest  and  fastest  of  all 
flying  machines  and  has  almost  always  carried  but  one 
man.  Typical  of  this  type  are  the  French  Spad  and 
Nieuport,  the  EngUsh  S.  E.  5  and  Sopwith  Camel,  and 
for  the  Germans  the  Albatross,  the  Pfalz,  and  the 
Fokker.  The  United  States  produced  no  machines  of 
this  type  and  our  pursuit  squadrons  were  entirely 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

equipped  with  French  Spads  and  Nieuports.  The 
speed  of  these  machines  varies  from  100  to  ahnost 
135  miles  per  hour.  Their  function  is  purely  to  fight 
and  by  fighting  to  create  an  area  in  which  it  will  be 
reasonably  safe  for  their  own  larger  machines  to  work 
and  by  attacking  the  larger  machines  of  the  enemy, 
to  prevent  them  from  accomplishing  their  missions. 
They  are  also  used  for  attacking  roads,  etc.,  from  a 
low  altitude  with  small  bombs  and  machine-gun  fire, 
known  in  the  Air  Service  as  '^strafing." 

Speaking  generally  the  pursuit  machine  is  armed  with 
one  or  two  machine  guns  which  are  bolted  fast  in  front 
of  the  pilot  above  the  motor  and  which  cannot  be  moved 
in  any  direction.  The  guns  fire  only  straight  ahead 
through  the  revolving  blades  of  the  propeller  and  the 
machine  is  totally  unprotected  in  the  rear,  relying  for 
its  safety  upon  its  speed  and  ability  to  manoeuvre 
quickly.  Above  the  guns  is  mounted  a  sight  which 
is  lined  up  with  them  and  then  bolted  fast.  To  shoot 
it  is  therefore  necessary  for  the  pilot  to  aim  his  whole 
plane  by  manoeuvring  it  with  his  controls  and  when  he 
has  in  this  way  brought  his  sights  to  bear  upon  his 
enemy,  he  fires  by  pressing  triggers  which  are  attached 
to  his  control  stick  and  connected  with  the  guns  by 
means  of  wires. 

There  is  no  mystery  about  a  machine  gun  firing 
through  a  propeller  without  hitting  the  blades.  Nearly 
every  one  understands  the  principle  by  which  the 
valves  of  a  gasoline  motor  are  timed  so  as  to  open  and 
close  at  a  given  point  in  the  revolution  of  the  engine. 
In  the  same  way  a  machine  gun  may  be  timed  to  shoot. 
On  the  end  of  the  cam  shaft  of  the  motor  is  placed  an 
additional  cam.    Next  to  this  is  a  rod  connected  with 


FOREWORD  ix 

the  breech  block  of  the  gun.  When  the  gun  is  not  being 
fired  the  rod  is  held  away  from  the  cam  by  a  spring. 
Pressing  the  trigger  brings  the  two  into  contact  and 
each  time  that  the  cam  revolves  it  strikes  the  rod  which 
in  turn  trips  the  hammer  of  the  gun  and  causes  it  to 
fire.  The  cam  is  regulated  so  that  it  comes  in  contact 
with  the  rod  just  as  each  blade  has  passed  the  muzzle 
of  the  gun  which  can  therefore  fire  at  this  time  only. 
The  engine  revolves  at  least  1000  turns  per  minute  and 
as  there  are  two  chances  for.  the  gun  to  fire  for  each 
revolution,  this  would  allow  the  gun  to  fire  2000 
shots  per  minute.  The  rate  of  fire  of  a  machine  gun 
varies  from  about  400  to  1000  shots  per  minute  accord- 
ing to  the  type  of  gun  and  the  way  in  which  it  is  rigged. 
The  gun  therefore  has  many  more  opportunities  to 
fire  between  the  blades  of  the  propeller  than  its  rate 
of  fire  will  permit  it  to  make  use  of.  Consequently 
the  gun  can  work  at  full  speed  regardless  of  ordinary 
variations  in  the  number  of  revolutions  of  the  engine. 
The  second  type  of  plane  is  nearly  always  a  two- 
seater  although  some  three-seaters  were  also  used  for 
this  work.  Their  purpose  is  to  gain  information,  take 
pictures  and  so  forth  but  not  to  fight  unless  attacked 
and  forced  to  defend  themselves.  Examples  of  the 
two-seater  type  are  the  Enghsh  De  Havilands  and  R.  E. 
8,  the  French  Breguet  and  Salmson,  the  American 
Liberty,  which  is  a  copy  of  the  Enghsh  De  Haviland  4, 
and  the  German  Rumpler  and  Halberstadt.  In  this 
class  of  machine  the  pilot  has  one  or  two  fixed  guns 
shooting  straight  ahead  as  in  the  single-seater.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  however,  the  observer,  who  sits  in  a  cock- 
pit behind  the  pilot,  is  armed  with  one  or  two  movable 
machine  guns  mounted  on  a  swivel.    He  can  fire  these 


X  FOREWORD 

guns  in  any  direction  except  in  those  angles  which  are 
blinded  by  the  wings,  body,  and  tail  portions  of  his 
own  machine.  The  two-seater,  called  a  ^'biplace" 
by  the  French,  being  larger  and  slower  than  the  single- 
seater  and  therefore  incapable  of  being  so  quickly 
handled,  would  be  at  the  latter's  mercy  were  it  not  for 
the  protection  afforded  by  its  movable  guns.  The 
pilot  of  a  two-seater  has  comparatively  Httle  oppor- 
tunity to  use  his  guns  and  they  can  be  rather  easily 
avoided  by  the  single-seater.  It  is  the  fire  from  the 
observer's  guns  which  the  pursuit  machine  must  guard 
against  in  attacking  a  two-seater.  This  he  usually 
does  by  approaching  either  from  the  front  or  by  seek- 
ing to  get  into  a  position  behind  and  below  so  as  to 
shield  himself  by  keeping  behind  the  body  and  tail 
planes  of  his  enemy.  The  observer  cannot  of  course 
shoot  through  his  own  machine  without  risk  of  bringing 
himself  down. 

The  third  class  is  much  the  largest  and  slowest  of  all, 
constructed  with  a  view  to  carrying  great  weights.  It 
is  protected  both  fore  and  aft  by  movable  machine 
guns,  but  its  size,  slow  speed,  and  inability  to  climb 
to  high  altitudes,  make  it  very  vulnerable  to  attack 
both  by  anti-aircraft  fire  from  the  ground  and  by 
enemy  pursuit  machines.  It  was  therefore  used,  at 
least  on  the  western  front,  almost  exclusively  for  night 
bombing.  Examples  of  this  type  are  the  EngHsh 
Handley-Page,  the  Italian  Caproni  and  the  German 
Gotha.  The  United  States  at  the  end  of  the  war  had 
not  gotten  any  night  bombers  on  the  front. 

The  distances  at  which  fighting  is  carried  on  in  the 
air  is  not  nearly  so  great  as  is  generally  supposed.  Al- 
most all  successful  combats  were  fought  at  ranges  less 


FOREWORD  xi 

than  300  feet  and  again  the  majority  of  these  at  between 
200  feet  and  30  feet.  There  were  of  course  many  in- 
stances of  planes  being  brought  down  at  longer  ranges 
but  these  were  the  exception.  The  speed  of  machines 
is  so  great  and  the  angles  so  changeable  as  to  be  al- 
most impossible  to  calculate  with  anything  approaching 
accuracy.  The  only  sure  shot  is  that  at  almost  point- 
blank  range  where  the  question  of  how  far  one  must 
shoot  ahead  of  a  moving  mark  in  order  to  hit  it  is 
greatly  simphfied. 

This  difficulty  in  shooting  explains  why  so  much  air^ 
fighting  is  often  carried  on  with  so  Httle  result.  In 
addition  to  this,  although  an  aeroplane  seems  to  pre- 
sent a  large  target,  the  vital  spots  which  must  be  hit 
in  order  to  bring  it  down  are  in  reality  very  small. 
The  men  and  the  vitals  of  the  machinery  take  up  but 
a  small  fraction  of  the  machine  and  the  parts  where 
they  are  not  may  be  riddled  without  apparent  effect. 

These  letters  were  written  to  members  of  the  author's 
family  without  thought  of  publication  and  the  author 
is  still  very  much  in  doubt  as  to  whether  they  should 
be  published.  They  have  been  printed  almost  exactly 
as  they  were  written  except  for  the  omission  of  some 
personal  names  and  of  the  more  private  matters.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  accounts  of  a  number  of  combats  have 
been  omitted  which,  owing  to  their  similarity  to  other 
fights  described,  it  was  feared  might  become  tedious. 
A  few  descriptions  and  criticisms  have  been  inserted 
which  the  author  would  have  written  at  the  same  time 
as  the  rest  of  the  letters  had  it  not  been  for  lack  of 
time  and  the  censorship  regulations.  Names  of  places 
have  also  been  added. 

Charles  J.  Biddle. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  March  25,  1919. 


CONTENTS 


PAGB 


In  the  Schools 3 

ESCADKILLE  N.  73 41 

ESCADRILLE   LaFAYETTE 145 

13th  Aero  Squadron,  A.  E.  F 217 

4th  Pursuit  Group,  A.  E.  F 285 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"I  therefore  stood  there  with  my  posies  like  some  June  bride, 

looking  as  self-conscious  as  I  felt" Frontispiece 

The  pin  of  a  French  Military  Pilot Page  2 

f  Atterrissage  sur  le  dos" Facing  page  14 

Author's  Bleriot  monoplane  training-plane  after  forced  land- 
ing, June  2,  1917 Facing  page  14 

Nieuport  training-plane  on  its  nose "        "  20 

Insignia  of  Escadrille  N.  73 Page  40 

Captain  Georges  Guynemer Facing  page  42 

A  bad  smash "        "  52 

Spad  planes  of  Escadrille  N.  73 "        "  52 

King  Albert  of  Belgium  decorating  aviators  .   .        "        "  56 

Queen  Elizabeth  of  Belgium  getting  out  of  French  plane 

Facing  page  56 

Captain  Guynemer  about  to  start  on  the  last  flight  from  which 

he  ever  returned Facing  page  74 

The  last  flight "        "  102 

The  car  of  a  French  night  bomber,  Voisin  type         "        "  132 

Insignia  of  Escadrille  Lafayette  (103d  Aero  Squadron,  A.  E.  F.) 

Page  144 

The  remains  of  two  Spad  planes  of  the  Escadrille  Lafayette 

Facing  page  160 

XV 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

"InFlandersfields  the  poppies  blow"    ....    Facing  page  190 

A  portion  of  the  Ypres  sector "        "  190 

Lieutenant  Ren^  Fonck,  the  ace  of  aces,  in  front  of  his  Spad 

Facing  page  206 

"Death  the  Great  Reaper";  the  insignia  of  13th  Aero  Squad- 
ron, A.  E.  F Page  216 

Hun-hunting  with  the  camera Facing  page  228 

German  Rumpler  two-seater "        "  242 

Observer's  cockpit  and  machine-gun  of  machine  shown  facing 

page  242 Facing  page  252 

A  direct  hit "        "  280 

The  end  of  a  famous  American  ace "        "  280 

Insignia  of  U.  S.  Military  Pilot Page  284 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS 


The  pin  of  a  French 
Military  Pilot 


AvoRD,  France,  April  15, 1917. 

My  application  for  permission  to  enlist  in  the  French 

Foreign  Legion,  Aviation  Section,  went  in  on  March 

24th.     It  takes  several  weeks  for  this  to  go  through 

however  and  it  was  not  until  last  Tuesday  that  Dr. 

X notified  me  that  I  had  been  accepted.    The 

next  day  I  went  to  a  dingy  recruiting  office  near  the 
Invalides  and  was  examined  by  the  French  doctors. 
The  office  reminded  me  very  much  of  an  old  print  of 
an  ancient  police  station  from  Dickens.  A  dark  Httle 
place  with  barred  windows  adorned  with  numerous 
cobwebs,  on  each  side  of  the  main  room  a  rough 
bench,  and  in  the  corner  a  huge  old-fashioned  barrel 
stove.  The  examination  was  not  severe,  none  of  that 
business  of  shooting  pistols  off  unexpectedly  that  we 
used  to  hear  was  part  of  an  aviator^s  preliminary  ex- 
amination. There  were  a  number  of  men  being  ex- 
amined for  the  infantry  of  the  Foreign  Legion  at  the 
same  time.  We  all  stripped  to  our  bare  skins,  negroes, 
Frenchmen,  another  American  and  myself,  and  some 
gentlemen  at  whose  nationality  one  could  only  guess. 
One  of  the  latter  who  spoke  a  little  English  was  much 
perturbed  because  he  forgot  and  signed  his  real  name. 
He  had  all  his  papers  made  up  in  an  alias  and  then  got 
excited  at  the  last  minute.  The  officer  in  charge 
noticed  the  mistake  but  laughed  and  passed  it  over. 
They  are  used  to  such  things  in  the  Legion.  Of  course 
the  Aviation  Division  of  ^'La  Legion  Etrangere"  is  en- 
tirely separate  from  the  Infantry  so  far  as  our  seeing 
anything  of  the  latter  is  concerned.    On  Thursday  I 

3 


4         ;   !  THE..1i^AY''0F  THE  EAGLE 

went  to  the  Invalides,  enlisted,  and  received  my  or- 
ders, which  were  to  proceed  to  the  aviation  school  at 
Avord  the  following  morning.  This  I  did,  arriving  here 
Friday  afternoon  and  here  I  am. 

This  school  is  a  most  extremely  interesting  place 
and  more  enormous  than  anything  one  who  had  not 
seen  it  could  possibly  imagine.  The  aviation  fields 
and  hangars  literally  stretch  for  miles  and  I  can  hardly 
guess  how  many  machines  there  are  here.  I  should 
say  about  six  hundred.  At  the  Curtiss  school  at  New- 
port News  there  were  about  fifteen.  This  is  the  largest 
school  in  France,  but  there  are  many  other  very  large 
ones  scattered  all  over  the  country.  Any  morning  or 
afternoon  when  the  weather  permits,  the  machines 
look  like  the  crows  flying  home  to  roost  from  the 
marshes  on  the  Delaware. 

I  started  work  on  Saturday  morning  in  the  beginners' 
class.  The  machines  are  known  as  ''Penguins"  and 
are  Bleriot  monoplanes  with  small  engines  and  their 
wings  cut  down  so  that  they  cannot  fly.  They  are 
rather  difficult  to  handle  and  are  designed  to  teach  the 
men  to  steer  straight.  At  first  you  go  sideways  and 
twist  around  in  every  direction  except  the  one  in  which 
you  wish  to  go.  After  you  catch  on  to  them  however 
you  go  tripping  along  over  the  ground  at  some  35  or 
40  miles  an  hour.  When  you  graduate  from  this 
class  you  go  to  another  called  ''Rouleurs."  These  are 
Bleriots  which  will  fly  but  the  pupils  are  not  allowed 
to  take  them  off  the  ground.  I  will  write  you  all 
about  the  various  steps  as  I  go  along.  At  all  events  it 
will  probably  be  from  one  to  two  months  before  I  get 
off  the  ground  and  six  before  I  get  to  the  front,  so  there 
is  nothing  to  worry  about  just  yet.    In  this  school  a 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  6 

pupil  is  so  thoroughly  trained  in  the  rudiments  that 
by  the  time  he  is  ready  to  fly  he  is  capable  of  doing  so 
with  the  least  possible  danger.  The  French  machines 
are  beautifully  made,  nothing  that  we  have  so  far  in 
America  can  compare  with  them. 

You  would  laugh  to  see  your  cute  little  son  dressed 
up  in  the  blue  uniform  of  a  French  poilu.  The  govern- 
ment gives  us  everything  from  the  skin  out  and  the 
committee  for  the  Franco-American  Flying  Corps  pro- 
vides us  with  a  really  good  uniform.  I  have  just 
ordered  mine  from  the  tailor.  I  am  going  to  take  some 
pictures  with  my  kodak  and  will  send  them  to  you  as 
soon  as  they  are  finished.  We  live  in  a  barracks, 
about  twenty  men  in  a  room,  and  eat  in  a  great  mess 
shack.  There  are  about  three  thousand  men  in  the 
camp  counting  mechanics  and  quantities  of  Annamites. 
These  latter  act  as  servants,  make  roads  and  do  the 
dirty  work  generally.  They  come  from  Indo-China,  and 
look  much  like  Chinese.  They  all  shellac  their  teeth 
until  they  are  coal  black  which  gives  their  faces  a  most 
extraordinary  expression. 

The  food  is  wholesome  enough  although  extremely 
rough,  nothing  like  as  good  as  the  U.  S.  Army  gets. 
There  are  canteens  where  we  buy  things  to  help  out 
and  we  receive  200  francs  a  month  from  the  Franco- 
American  Committee  for  this  purpose.  I  am  therefore 
not  exactly  living  in  luxury  but  am  getting  so  fat  and 
healthy  you  won't  know  me  when  I  come  home. 

P.  S.  I  enclose  two  notes,  one  for  one  franc  and  the 
other  for  50  centimes.  They  are  part  of  my  first  pay 
as  a  soldier  of  France  and  I  thought  that  you  or  mother 
might  care  to  keep  them.  We  get  one  franc  25  cen- 
times per  day  which  is  5  times  what  the  infantry  gets. 


6  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

AvoKD,  May  3, 1917. 
On  May  1  a  new  schedule  went  into  effect  here  and 
we  now  get  up  at  4  a.  m.,  work  until  9  a.  m.,  lunch  at 
10,  supper  at  5  p.  m.,  back  to  work  at  5.30  and  do  not 
quit  until  dark  which  is  about  9  p.  m.  Remember  that 
under  our  daylight  saving  plan  the  clocks  are  all  one 
hour  ahead,  so  this  really  means  getting  up  at  3  a.  m. 
You  can  see  that  this  does  not  leave  much  time  for 
sleep,  but  as  we  are  off  all  during  the  heat  of  the  day, 
we  make  it  up  then.  The  reason  for  these  peculiar 
hours  is  of  course  because  during  the  heat  of  the  day 
the  air  becomes  full  of  holes  or  "remous"  as  the 
French  call  them,  which  are  very  unpleasant  affairs 
for  an  '*41eve  pilote."*  Although  we  have  been  hav- 
ing beautiful  weather  for  the  past  ten  days,  only  about 
half  of  them  have  been  good  for  flying,  owing  to  too 
much  wind.  May  is  however  supposed  to  be  the  best 
month  of  the  year  here  for  our  work,  so  we  should  make 
good  progress.  I  have  just  been  promoted  with  the 
rest  of  my  class  from  the  Penguins  to  the  ^^Rouleurs," 
and  shall  probably  remain  in  this  class  for  three  weeks. 
The  object  of  the  Rouleurs  is  to  teach  the  pupil  to 
steer  a  straight  course  and  to  get  a  correct  '4igne  de 
vol.^'t  The  machine  will  fly  but  we  are  not  allowed  to 
leave  the  ground.  It  will  therefore.be  some  time  yet 
before  I  begin  to  do  any  actual  flying. 

AvoKD,  May  15th,  1917. 
Since  my  last  letter  I  have  passed  through  the  ''Rou- 
leuj''  class  and  am  now  in  the  '^DecoUeiu-.'^     In  the 
latter  class  we  use  the  same  machine  as  in  the  "Rou- 

*Student  pilot.  t  Line  of  flight. 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  7 

leur"  but  are  allowed  to  fly  it  a  little.  We  start  by 
going  up  three  feet,  flying  along  a  short  distance  and 
then  shutting  off  the  motor  and  allowing  the  machine 
to  settle  back  on  the  ground.  By  degrees  we  take  the 
machine  higher  and  higher  in  straight  flights  up  and 
down  a  big  field.  After  a  while  we  will  be  sent  on  to 
another  class  where  we  fly  a  Httle  higher  and  make 
regular  sure  enough  landings.  All  these  flights  are 
straight,  the  machine  being  brought  to  the  ground  at 
each  end  of  the  field  and  turned  by  hand.  In  this  way 
the  pupil  in  a  sense  teaches  himself  to  fly  and  the  in- 
structor merely  stands  on  the  ground  with  the  rest  of 
the  class  and  tells  you  what  to  do  before  you  start. 
The  monitor  does  not  go  up  with  the  pupil  as  a  general 
rule  until  after  he  has  obtained  his  military  license  on 
the  Bleriot  machine  and  begins  to  learn  to  drive  a 
Nieuport.  The  training  for  the  pilots  of  the  large 
machines  such  as  Caudrons  and  Farmans  is  somewhat 
different  but  I  hope  not  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
these  types.  The  schooling  for  a  pilot  of  the  small 
fast  scout  or  '^chasse"  machines  as  the  French  call  them 
is  usually  the  training  on  the  Bleriot  monoplanes. 
The  chasse  machines  are  more  difficult  to  drive  than 
the  bigger  planes,  and  if  a  man  proves  inapt  in  the 
Bleriot  School  he  is  ''radiated"  to  a  Caudron  or  a 
Farman  and  after  completing  his  training  on  these 
types  is  sent  to  the  front  as  a  pilot  of  one  of  the  larger 
planes  which  do  such  work  as  picture  taking,  the  regu- 
lation of  artillery  fire  and  bomb  dropping.  This  is  of 
course  very  interesting  work  but  I  should  much  pre- 
fer to  be  in  the  chasse,  which  appeals  to  me  more  than 
the  other. 
As  I  said  before  I  am  now  in  the  D^colleur  class  and 


8  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

am  just  beginning  to  fly.    So  far  I  have  not  been  higher 
than  the  remarkable  altitude  of  six  feet. 

AvoRD,  May  24th,  1917. 
The  last  page  of  this  letter  has  been  written  on  the 
above  date  and  at  Avord.  I  came  back  last  Saturday 
the  19th,  and  have  really  not  had  a  moment  to  do  any- 
thing but  work,  eat  and  sleep  since  that  time.  About 
a  week  ago,  almost  the  whole  school  closed  up  due  to  a 
lack  of  oil  and  everyone  went  away  on  permission. 
My  particular  class  had  gone  away  the  week  before 
and  so  when  our  one  week's  permission  was  up  we  had 
to  come  back  although  there  was  but  little  prospect 
of  our  being  able  to  work.  It  so  happens,  however, 
that  there  is  enough  oil  for  the  few  men  who  are  here 
to  work  with,  and  as  there  are  plenty  of  machines 
and  monitors  I  have  been  able  to  fly  to  my  heart's  con- 
tent. No  standing  around  waiting  for  some  one  else 
to  get  through.  Since  last  Saturday  I  have  had  twice 
as  much  time  flying  as  in  all  the  rest  of  my  sojourn  here 
put  together,  and  it  is  now  real  fljdng.  Yesterday  I  was 
up  for  two  hours  and  a  half  and  an  hour  and  a  half 
this  morning.  The  flying  is  all  by  yourself  of  course 
under  this  system.  This  morning  I  got  up  a  little  over 
two  hundred  metres.*  The  country  is  beautiful  in  its 
spring  plumage  and  with  the  ranges  of  hills  on  the 
horizon,  presents  a  wonderful  picture  from  the  air. 
You  get  no  feeling  of  dizziness  and  one  is  so  thor- 
oughly familiarized  with  the  machines  before  being 
allowed  to  leave  the  ground  that  when  one  does  go 
up  one  feels  capable  of  handling  one's  plane.  Even 
after  we  are  allowed  to  fly  we  are  kept  making  straight 

*  A  metre  is,  roughly  speaking,  a  yard,  more  exactly  39  and  |  inches. 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  9 

lines  up  and  down  a  big  field  at  low  altitudes  for 
several  days  before  we  do  any  cruising  about  the 
country.  Since  Saturday  I  have  passed  through  four 
classes  so  you  can  see  that  we  are  moving  right  along. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  this  is  infinitely  better  than 
the  first  of  the  training  and  I  certainly  am  enjoying  it. 
There  is  nothing  scary  about  it  so  far  and  the  work  is 
very  interesting  and  no  end  of  sport.  I  would,  how- 
ever, rather  shoot  ducks !  !  !  !  I 

AvoED,  May  30lh,  1917. 
Since  writing  to  mother  last  week  I  have  finished  up 
all  the  work  preliminary  to  the  tests  for  my  military 
brevet  and  have  started  in  on  the  latter.  The  last 
two  things  the  ^leve  does  before  beginning  his  final  tests, 
are  a  serpentine  and  a  spiral  from  seven  or  eight  hun- 
dred metres  with  motor  shut  off,  to  a  given  landing 
place.  These  manoeuvres  are  simply  what  their  name 
implies  and  are  methods  of  losing  height  without  gain- 
ing distance,  i.  e.,  to  land  on  a  spot  under  you.  Yester- 
day morning  I  did  the  first  of  the  tests  for  my  brevet, 
consisting  of  two  short  trips  to  a  nearby  village,  a 
landing  there  and  return.  This  is  very  easy,  the  round 
trip  being  only  about  sixty  kilometres.  The  first  time 
I  flew  at  a  height  of  1000  metres.  From  this  height 
you  can  see  for  miles  and  it  is  quite  easy  to  follow  a 
map,  as  streams,  roads,  woods,  and  other  landmarks 
stand  out  very  clearly.  By  the  time  I  made  my  second 
trip  a  good  many  low  clouds  had  come  up.  I  had  just 
about  reached  the  top  of  them  at  800  metres  when  my 
motor  commenced  to  go  badly  so  that  I  could  not  climb 
any  higher.  As  I  had  still  about  twenty-five  minutes 
to  stay  up  in  order  to  fill  in  the  necessary  hour,  which 


10  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

one  must  remain  in  the  air  on  these  trips,  I  had  to 
spend  it  dodging  about  among  the  clouds.  They  are 
very  unpleasant  things  to  get  in  in  a  Bleriot  and  when 
we  go  through  them  at  all  we  pick  a  hole.  Yesterday 
there  was  plenty  of  room  in  between  them  so  that  it 
was  easy  to  see  the  ground,  but  when  you  looked  off 
in  the  distance  they  seemed  solid  and  resemble  a  huge 
snow  field  more  than  anything  else.  It  is  quite  a  novel 
experience  flying  around  above  the  clouds  but  I  do  not 
think  it  will  take  long  to  get  used  to  it.  The  trouble 
with  them  is  that  they  shut  out  the  view  and  the  going 
around  the  edges  is  very  rough  and  bumpy. 

One  thing  that  bothers  me  a  little  is  that  the  machine 
gun  instruction  and  practice  has  been  much  reduced. 
The  reason  for  this  seems  to  be  in  order  to  save  time  in 
turning  out  pilots,  but  to  my  mind  it  is  very  poor  econ- 
omy. I  know  enough  about  shooting  to  know  how 
hard  it  is  to  hit  a  moving  mark.  Many  of  the  men  here 
know  nothing  about  shooting  and  think  that  all  you 
have  to  do  is  to  shoot  straight  at  what  you  want  to 
hit,  which  is  of  course  the  surest  way  to  miss  it.  There 
is  a  machine  gun  school  near  Bordeaux  where  the  men 
used  to  go.  A  friend  of  mine  named  Chad  wick  who 
has  just  finished  here  and  gone  to  this  school,  got  there 
by  putting  in  a  special  request  on  the  ground  that  he 
did  not  know  one  end  of  the  gun  from  another.  I  have 
had  no  black  marks  here  so  far  and  if  I  go  through 
without  any,  I  am  going  to  put  in  a  similar  request.  In 
this  business  it  seenis  to  me  it  is  as  important  to  know 
how  to  shoot  as  to  fly. 

AvoRD,  June  4th^  1917. 
To  supplement  my  last  letter  to  father  and  tell  you 
what  I  have  been  doing  lately  in  the  flying  line,  I 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS         -  11 

have  been  very  busy  taking  my  tests  for  my  military 
brevet  which  I  completed  successfully  on  June  2. 
They  consisted  of  two  triangles  of  225  kilometres 
each.  The  route  lay  from  Avord  to  two  other  towns 
the  names  of  which  I  shall  not  give  in  order  not  to 
irritate  our  friend  the  censor.*  A  landing  is  required 
at  each  of  these  towns,  where  you  have  your  papers 
signed  and  take  on  gasoline  and  oil.  We  are  furnished 
with  an  excellent  map  and  there  is  really  no  difficulty 
at  all  in  following  one's  route.  The  country  hes  be- 
fore you  like  a  reproduction  of  your  map  and  from  1200 
metres  you  can  make  out  with  ease  such  landmarks  as 
rivers,  canals,  woods,  ponds  and  roads,  and  cities  show 
up  while  you  are  still  miles  away  from  them.  I  found 
1200  or  1300  metres  a  very  satisfactory  height  as  you 
are  then  high  enough  to  get  a  good  comprehensive 
view  of  the  country  and  to  have  time  in  which  to  pick 
out  a  suitable  landing  place  in  case  anything  goes 
wrong  with  your  motor  and  you  have  to  land.  At  the 
same  time  you  are  low  enough  to  be  able  to  distinguish 
the  detail  of  things  below  you  and  thus  to  better  identify 
places  on  your  map.  Another  thing  we  must  do  is 
to  ascend  to  an  altitude  of  2000  metres  and  remain 
above  that  height  for  an  hour,  and  I  have  already 
written  to  father  about  the  ^'petit  voyage"  tests. 
On  June  first  I  started  off  on  my  first  triangle  and  as 
the  weather  was  good  and  my  motor  ran  well,  I  had 
no  trouble  at  all.  On  the  last  leg  of  the  trip  I  thought 
I  would  work  in  my  altitude  so  let  her  climb  right 
on  up.  By  the  time  I  reached  the  camp  I  was  up 
2000  metres,  but  to  be  on  the  safe  side  went  on  up  to 
2400  which  is  about  as  high  as  a  Bleriot  of  the  kind  I 

*  Chateaurofux  and  Romorantin. 


12  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

had  will  go,  without  forcing  the  motor  too  much.  It 
took  me  45  minutes  to  reach  2000  metres  and  this  is 
very  good  for  the  type  of  machine  I  had.  The  new 
Spad  biplanes  in  use  at  the  front  will  do  the  same  thing 
in  six  or  seven  minutes.  It  is  not  so  very  different  at 
this  height  than  at  a  thousand  metres,  except  that  the 
details  begin  to  fade  a  little  and  the  country  looks  even 
more  like  a  map.  June  first  was  warm  on  the  ground 
but  at  2400  metres  your  breath  looked  like  a  lot  of 
smoke  and  it  was  quite  cold. 

After  I  had  been  up  there  cruising  around  for  almost 
an  hour  over  the  camp  and  had  only  ten  more  minutes  to 
stay,  my  motor  suddenly  stopped  as  though  it  had 
run  out  of  gasoline.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
start  down  and  I  was  very  much  disgusted  as  it  meant 
I  should  have  to  do  the  altitude  over  again.  As  soon 
as  I  started  for  the  ground  I  began  regulating  my 
gas,  etc.,  to  try  and  find  out  what  was  wrong  and  as 
luck  would  have  it,  got  the  motor  going  again  by  the 
time  I  reached  2200  metres.  After  that  she  went  all 
right  until  I  finally  came  down,  but  the  next  day  she 
quit  on  me  completely  when  I  was  half  way  through 
my  second  triangle.  That  day  the  clouds  and  mist 
were  so  low  that  you  could  not  fly,  at  the  particular 
time  that  I  had  my  trouble,  at  an  altitude  of  more  than 
450  metres.  This  is  entirely  too  low  to  be  comfortable 
as  it  gives  you  little  time  to  pick  out  a  landing  place  if 
you  are  forced  to  come  down,  and  makes  it  necessary 
to  fly  around  woods  and  country  where  a  landing  can- 
not be  made.  When  my  motor  started  to  go  bad  I 
picked  out  a  fine  field,  but  when  I  reached  300  metres 
the  engine  improved  and  I  thought  it  was  going  to 
come  to  life  again  as  it  had  the  day  before.     I  there- 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  13 

fore  decided  to  go  on  for  a  few  minutes  and  when  I  had 
gotten  just  far  enough  to  miss  the  good  field,  she  died 
suddenly  and  irretrievably.  On  one  side  of  me  was  a 
large  woods  and  on  the  other  a  small  stream  and  coun- 
try so  cut  up  with  hills,  hedges  and  trees  that  it  was 
impossible  to  land.  In  the  middle  was  what  appeared 
to  be  a  very  good  narrow  field  full  of  wild  flowers, 
but  I  was  suspicious  of  it  on  account  of  the  stream 
along  the  edge.  However,  a  marsh  is  better  than  a 
woods  any  day  and  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but 
take  a  try  at  it.  When  I  got  low  to  the  ground  I  saw 
that  it  was  soft  and  fully  expected  to  turn  over  when 
my  wheels  hit  the  mud.  The  only  chance  in  such  a 
situation  is  to  put  the  tail  down  first  and  let  the  machine 
lose  all  the  speed  possible  before  the  wheels  hit  the 
ground.  This  I  did  and  to  my  delight  she  only  ran 
about  fifteen  feet  on  the  ground  and  stopped  right  side 
up. 

The  grass  was  eighteen  inches  high  and  water 
slopped  up  over  your  shoes  when  you  walked.  My 
wheels  were  six  inches  in  the  mud  and  you  should  have 
seen  the  mud  and  water  fly  when  I  hit.  The  inevitable 
crowd  of  French  peasants  soon  began  to  arrive  and  I 
took  some  pictures  of  the  machine  with  the  gang  of 
onlookers  standing  around  it.  The  trouble  was  soon 
located  in  a  couple  of  broken  spark  plugs.  These  I 
replaced  from  my  tool  kit  and  with  the  help  of  some 
peasants  pushed  the  machine  to  dryer  ground.  I  in- 
structed the  most  intelligent  looking  man  how  to  turn 
over  the  propeller  so  as  to  start  the  motor  and  at  the 
same  time  not  have  it  come  around  and  take  his  head 
off.  The  ground  was  still  pretty  soft  and  it  was  quite 
a  job  to  get  enough  speed  to  lift  the  machine  off  the 


14  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

ground.  When  I  did  get  going,  it  was  the  middle  of  the 
day,  quite  windy  and  the  heat  waves  and  holes  in  the 
air  were  pretty  bad.  The  ride  to  my  next  stopping 
place  was  the  roughest  I  have  yet  experienced,  but  was 
not  enough  so  to  be  dangerous  and  really  made  the 
trip  more  fun.  The  sensation  reminded  me  more  of  a 
canoe  on  the  river  on  a  very  rough  day  than  anything 
else.  My  experience  in  canoes  has  I  think  helped  me 
more  than  anything  else  to  get  the  feel  of  an  aeroplane 
and  to  be  able  to  know  just  how  far  I  can  let  one  go 
without  being  afraid  that  it  is  going  to  turn  over.  In 
the  Nieuports  and  Spads,  once  you  are  a  sufficient  dis- 
tance from  the  ground,  you  can  let  them  fall  sideways, 
turn  upside  down  or  do  any  old  thing  and  then  right 
them  again.  As  a  matter  of  fact  they  really  right  them- 
selves most  of  the  time,  but  a  Bleriot  monoplane  is  a 
different  proposition  and  once  she  upsets  with  you,  the 
jig  is  often  up. 

The  remainder  of  my  test  was  uneventful  and  I  am 
now  a  breveted  military  '^pilote  aviateur^^  and  am 
ranked  as  a  corporal.  To  all  appearances  I  am  the 
same  sweet  young  thing  except  that  I  now  have  wings 
on  my  collar  and  my  ^'ensigne''  has  two  wings  on  it  in- 
stead of  one.  When  I  get  to  Paris  I  may  have  a  picture 
taken  in  uniform  and  send  it  to  you  if  they  don't  soak 
me  too  much  for  it.  By  the  way,  I  have  no  wings  on 
my  back  yet ! 

From  what  I  have  told  you  of  a  Bleriot  you  may  be 
glad  to  know  that  I  have  now  finished  with  them  and 
to-night  start  work  in  the  Nieuport  School  here.  The 
average  time  in  the  Nieuport  School  is  about  two  weeks 
and  is  spent  in  learning  how  to  do  ordinary  flying  and 
landings  in  this  type  of  plane.    They  are  biplanes  and 


"Atterrissage  sur  le  dos. 

A  Spad  single-seater  as  it  should  not  be  landed. 

July,  1917. 


Plessis-Belleville,  France, 


^'•"•/r*^* 


Author's  Bleriot  monoplane  training-plane  after  forced  landing, 
June  2,  1917. 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  15 

entirely  different  from  the  Bleriot  monoplane,  being 
much  more  stable  but  also  a  great  deal  heavier  and 
faster.  The  Bleriots  which  we  used  only  make  some- 
thing between  fifty  and  sixty  miles  an  hour  while  the 
Nieuport  goes  nearer  one  hundred.  The  former  is 
however  as  I  have  said,  a  wonderful  training  machine 
and  the  way  you  can  smash  them  up  without  hurting 
yourself,  is  nothing  short  of  marvellous.  I  have  myself 
seen  students  charge  headfirst  into  the  ground  at  full 
speed  from  a  height  of  fifty  feet,  completely  wreck  the 
machine  and  yet  step  out  of  it  without  a  scratch.  It 
was  not  at  all  unconunon  in  the  Bleriot  School  for  a 
man  to  fall  a  hundred  metres  and  sometimes  more 
and  come  off  with  a  few  cuts  and  bruises.  Wrecking 
machines  by  bad  landings  is  the  commonest  thing  in 
the  world  and  the  average  must  be  at  least  two  a  day. 
This  is  a  minimum  estimate  and  I  have  seen  five  or 
six  wrecks  lined  up  at  the  side  of  the  field  to  be  taken  to 
the  shops  as  the  result  of  a  single  day^s  work.  Yet  in 
all  the  time  I  have  been  here  there  has  not  been  a  single 
fatal  accident  in  the  Bleriot  School  nor  a  single  bone 
broken.  Some  few  men  have  been  pretty  badly  bruised 
up  so  that  they  had  to  sojourn  in  the  hospital  for  a 
couple  of  weeks  but  that  is  about  all.  The  reason  for 
this  is  that  the  Bleriots  are  very  light  and  just  strong 
enough  to  take  up  the  shock,  at  the  same  time  going  to 
pieces  and  letting  the  pilot  down  easy.  He  is  protected 
on  every  side  by  some  part  of  the  machine  and  when 
belted  in,  is  just  as  though  he  were  suspended  in  the 
middle  of  a  lot  of  shock  absorbers. 

This  system  of  self-instruction  is  only  used  in  the 
Bleriot  School  and  when  a  man  completes  the  course  he 
should  have  pretty  well  acquired  the  feel  of  an  aero- 


16  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

plane.  It  is  a  very  expensive  method  and  one  that  no 
private  school  could  afford  to  follow  unless  indemnified 
by  the  pupils.  In  every  case  that  I  know  of,  however, 
the  accident  has  been  the  fault  of  the  pupil  and  due 
either  to  his  not  following  instructions,  losing  his 
head,  or  to  rank  stupidity. 

Barring  the  one  case  of  having  your  motor  go  back 
on  you  when  you  are  over  country  where  it  is  very 
difficult  to  land,  there  is  no  reason  at  all  why  a  man  of 
reasonable  ability  who  is  accustomed  to  out  of  door 
sports,  should  smash  if  he  keeps  his  wits  about  him. 
Many  of  the  men  hardly  give  their  work  a  thought 
except  when  they  are  actually  in  a  machine  and  do 
not  seem  to  appreciate  how  much  there  is  to  learn. 
I  am  trying  to  spend  all  my  spare  time  studying  French 
so  as  to  be  able  to  take  the  instruction  in  better, 
and  in  reading  up  books  on  planes  and  motors  and 
how  and  why  they  work.  This  is  the  reason  that  I 
am  pressed  for  time  and  cannot  write  a  great  deal  but 
it  seems  to  me  only  common  sense  and  your  own  salva- 
tion to  do  so.  The  one  case  I  mentioned  of  a  motor 
going  bad  when  you  have  no  safe  place  on  which  to 
make  a  landing,  should  really  never  occur  in  school  as 
you  can  always  pick  a  good  route  to  the  places  you  are 
sent  and  if  you  fly  high  enough,  should  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  effecting  a  landing.  A  man  hardly  ever  goes 
through  his  triangles  without  having  his  motor  '^pan- 
ne"* with  him  at  least  once  and  I  really  think  the  au- 
thorities want  this  to  happen  so  as  to  see  how  the 
student  will  take  care  of  himself.  The  reason  for  the 
motors  failing  is  that  we  use  a  type  of  engine  in  most 
of  the  Bleriots  which  is  much  inferior  to  those  used  at 
the  front  and  is  no  longer  in  service  there. 

*  Break  down. 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  17 

AvoRD,  June  5,  1917. 

Julian  Biddle  arrived  here  on  Saturday  and  has 
started  in  in  the  Caudron  School  instead  of  the  Bleriot 
as  I  did.  The  training  in  the  Caudron  is  not  a  system  of 
self-instruction  but  you  begin  by  flying  right  away  in  a 
double  command  machine  with  a  monitor.  Julian 
chose  this  method  because  he  thinks  it  is  quicker, 
which  is  probably  true,  but  I  doubt  if  it  is  as  good. 
It  is  the  same  system  as  that  used  at  Newport  News  and 
the  machines  are  much  larger  and  more  stable  than  the 
Bleriots.  Yesterday  when  I  was  writing  to  you  I  was 
sitting  in  a  hay-rick  at  an  old  farm  about  three  miles 
from  the  school  and  Julian  was  in  the  straw  nearby. 
I  first  went  to  this  place  ten  days  ago  with  Oliver  Chad^ 
wick  and  have  spent  many  pleasant  hours  there  since. 
Chadwick  was  in  my  class  at  the  Harvard  Law 
School  and  is  an  exceptionally  fine  fellow.  He  was 
also  probably  the  most  skilful  American  pilot  here,  but 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he  left  several  days  ago  and 
is  now  at  the  school  of  '  perfectionnement"  and  acro- 
batics at  Pau.  I  shall  follow  him  there  in  a  couple  of 
weeks  as  soon  as  I  have  finished  the  Nieuport  School. 
I  hope  we  get  in  the  same  unit  as  we  get  along  very 
well  together  and  he  is  a  first  class  man  in  every  way. 
It  is  very  nice  also  to  have  Julian  here  and  there  are 
several  other  good  fellows  whom  I  know  that  are  ex- 
pected shortly.  I  hope  we  can  continue  to  get  men  of 
this  type  in  the  organization. 

The  farm  I  spoke  of  is  just  a  typical  French  peasant 
place  where  a  nice  old  man  and  his  wife  live  with  their 
two  grandchildren,  a  very  lively  pair  of  boys.  The 
*' family ''  also  includes  two  girls  and  a  young  fellow 
who  work  about  the  farm,  look  after  the  sheep,  cook, 


18  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

etc.  You  can  get  quantities  of  delicious  fresh  milk, 
eggs,  and  cottage  cheese  at  a  ridiculously  cheap  price. 
Nearby  is  a  great  big  hay-rick  where  I  sit  and  write  and 
do  a  good  deal  of  sleeping.  As  we  get  up  at  3.30  a.  m. 
and  cannot  get  to  bed  before  10.30,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  get  some  sleep  during  the  day  and  I  find 
the  quiet  of  this  place  a  great  relief.  The  walk  to  and 
back  from  the  farm  also  provides  a  bit  of  exercise. 
I  think  that  probably  the  most  important  thing  in  this 
business  is  perfect  physical  condition  and  I  have  been 
taking  care  of  myself  as  I  never  have  before.  You  said 
in  your  last  letter  that  Bishop  Brent  was  so  impressed 
with  the  moral  conditions  over  here.  They  are  not 
good  I  must  admit,  according  to  our  standards,  but 
then  you  must  remember  that  French  ideas  on  these 
things  are  entirely  different  from  ours  even  among  the 
best  people.  They  are  brought  up  to  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent standard  and  the  worth  while  ones  live  up  to 
their  own  ideals  although  at  the  same  time  doing  things 
that  we  would  not  approve  of.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  a 
man  lives  up  to  his  own  standards  of  what  is  right,  that 
that  is  about  all  you  can  expect  of  him.  The  man  who 
deserves  condemnation  is  the  one  who  has  standards 
or  should  have  them  but  is  not  man  enough  to  live  up 
to  them. 

You  asked  me  in  one  of  your  letters  if  I  had  ever 
heard  of  the  place  where  your  little  French  ^^ orphan^' 
lives  with  his  mother.  I  don^t  know  for  sure  but  should 
say  at  a  guess  that  it  was  somewhere  in  heaven.  I 
never  before  heard  of  an  orphan  living  with  a  parent 
but  will  try  to  look  him  up  if  I  ever  get  near  his  abode. 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  19 

AvoRD,  June  13,  1917. 

After  my  long  letter  to  mother  of  last  week,  there  is 
not  so  much  news  to  tell  you.  For  eight  days  after 
I  was  transferred  to  the  Nieuport  school,  I  did  nothing 
but  warm  a  bench  and  wait  until  I  could  get  a  chance 
to  fly.  Three  days  ago  it  came,  and  so  far,  I  have  found 
no  difficulty  in  driving  a  Nieuport  after  my  training  on 
the  Bleriot.  The  Nieuport  is  much  steadier  and  gives 
you  a  feeling  of  perfect  safety.  You  can  look  all  about 
you  without  thinking  much  of  the  flying  of  the  machine 
and  the  sensation  in  volplaning  down  to  a  landing  is 
much  the  same  as  that  you  get  in  coming  down  in  a 
good  elevator  so  far  as  stability  is  concerned;  without 
any  of  the  queer  feeling  in  your  stomach  that  an  ele- 
vator gives  you.  As  to  smashes  and  injuries,  as  I 
think  I  told  you  before,  I  have  yet  to  see  a  case  where 
the  trouble  was  not  caused  either  by  the  student  getting 
rattled  and  not  using  his  head,  or  by  doing  something 
contrary  to  instructions. 

The  Nieuport  lands  much  faster  than  the  Bleriot 
and  although  easier  to  do  ordinary  simple  flying  in,  is 
harder  to  fly  and  land  really  well.  The  machine  of 
this  type  in  use  at  the  front  has  a  plane  area  of  only  15 
metres.  The  wings  are  so  small  you  hardly  see  how 
they  Hft  the  weight.  The  reason  of  course  is  the  high 
speed. 

You  speak  in  your  letter  about  not  being  rash. 
Taking  chances  to  no  purpose  is  of  course  foolish,  but 
in  a  game  of  this  kind  one  must  act  on  the  judgment  of  a 
second  and  snap  and  dash  are,  I  think,  essential  to  suc- 
cess. The  nature  of  the  work  makes  necessary  what 
to  many  people  would  seem  rashness.  In  order  to 
attain  real  skill  a  military  aviator  does  many  things 


20  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGI.E 

that  he  would  not  do  for  the  fun  of  it  if  he  were  learn- 
ing to  be  a  peaceful  pilot.  You  of  course  know  what 
I  mean  and  we  both  know  that  there  is  a  great  dif- 
ference between  this  sort  of  thing  and  mere  foolhardy 
rashness.  War  is  of  course  largely  a  matter  of  chances, 
but  in  aviation  it  is  a  good  rule,  I  think,  never  to  take 
a  chance  just  for  the  sport  of  the  thing  when  there  is 
nothing  to  be  gained  by  succeeding,  and  above  all, 
never  do  a  stunt,  etc.,  in  a  machine  not  intended  for 
that  kind  of  work.    This  is  the  way  many  splendid 

flyers  are  killed  and   the  way  0 met  his  end. 

A  new  student  here  who  was  at  P at  the  time  and 

picked  up  0 ^s  remains,  told  me  today  that  he 

was  killed  because  he  attempted  to  loop  the  loop  in  a 
machine  which  had  been  weakened  by  the  many  rough 
landings  made  in  it  by  students.     One  of  the  other  men 

had  remarked  the  same  morning  that  0 would 

kill  himself  if  he  did  not  stop  doing  stunts  in  that 
machine.  It  is  the  same  way  here,  there  are  hundreds 
of  machines  perfectly  safe  for  the  ordinary  straight 
flying  that  you  are  supposed  to  do,  which  would  not  be 
expected  to  stand  the  acrobatic  work  such  as  is  done  in 
the  machines  used  at  Pau. 

AvoRD,  June  21, 1917. 
Am  still  here  at  Avord  and  owing  to  a  couple  of  slight 
mishaps  it  will  probably  be  three  or  four  days  more 
before  I  have  finished  up  and  am  on  my  way  to  Pau. 
This  Nieuport  school  is  not  as  easy  as  it  is  cracked  up 
to  be  and  the  landing  of  this  type  of  machine  has  proved 
the  most  difficult  thing  for  me  so  far.  The  machines 
are  heavy  and  fast  and  land  in  a  totally  different  fashion 
from  the  Bleriots  on  which  we  received  our  preliminary 


Nieuport  training-plane  on  its  nose. 

Accident  caused  by  a  wheel  being  broken  by  a  rough  landing,  Avord, 
France,  June,  1917.  A  monument  to  the  author's  skill  or  rather  lack 
of  It. 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  21 

training.  If  you  do  not  get  them  on  the  ground  prop- 
erly, you  are  very  Hkely  to  bounce,  then  a  wheel 
breaks  when  you  come  down  again,  the  axle  sticks  in  the 
ground  and  the  old  boat  turns  turtle.  Four  or  five 
days  ago  I  made  a  rough  landing  and  in  doing  so  must 
have  bent  one  of  the  wheels.  I  stopped  the  machine 
and  then  started  to  roll  along  the  ground  from  the  land- 
ing place  to  the  starting  point.  After  I  had  gone  about 
fifty  yards,  a  wheel  suddenly  caved  in  and  the  machine 
stood  on  its  nose,  breaking  the  propeller  but  that  was 
all.  As  we  are  of  course  belted  in,  all  I  had  to  do  was  to 
unfasten  the  belt  and  sHde  out.  I  then  proceeded  to 
take  a  picture  of  the  machine  as  she  stood  on  her 
nose,  a  pretty  monument  to  my  prowess.  When  they 
are  done,  I  will  send  you  one.  This  accident  was  due 
to  my  not  having  sense  enough  to  stop  and  see  if  every- 
thing was  all  right  after  I  had  made  the  landing. 

After  that  everything  went  all  right  for  a  couple  of 
days  when  I  made  another  rough  landing,  the  wheels 
gave  way  and  the  next  thing  I  knew  the  machine 
turned  a  summersault  and  lit  in  the  middle  of  its  back. 
As  you  are  already  on  the  ground  when  you  perform 
these  stunts  you  cannot  very  well  hurt  yourself,  but 
not  so  the  machine. 

Mine  was  pretty  well  bunged  up  this  time,  while 
nothing  at  all  happened  to  me  except  a  pair  of  barked 
shins  where  I  kicked  the  front  of  the  gas  tank.  I 
should  say  that  at  least  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  pupils  in 
the  Nieuport  School  have  the  same  thing  happen  to 
them  before  they  learn  and  the  daily  average  of  "Ca- 
potages"*  as  the  French  call  them,  must  certainly  be 
five  machines  out  of  about  thirty  on  the  field.    I  should, 

*  Capsizings. 


22  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

however,  by  using  my  head,  have  been  one  of  those  to 
go  through  without  a  smash,  especially  afte^  complet- 
ing what  is  supposed  to  be  the  hardest  part  of  the  train- 
ing, the  Bleriot  School,  without  difficulty. 

Yesterday  I  made  ten  trips  by  myself  again  and  think 
I  now  have  it.  My  difficulty  was  caused  by  trying  to 
cut  the  landings  too  fine  for  a  beginner  and  should  have 
been  avoided  by  the  exercise  of  a  little  intelligence. 

I  am  glad  my  troubles  came  here  rather  than  at 
Pau,  for  on  what  we  do  there,  will  depend  largely 
what  kind  of  a  machine  we  get  later  on  and  I  am  of 
course  anxious  to  get  the  best. 

Pau.  June  30,  1917. 
The  only  thing  I  have  done  here  so  far  in  the  way  of 
flying,  is  some  vertical  spirals,  but  in  the  course  of 
these  I  did  some  acrobatic  stunts  by  mistake.  In  the 
vertical  spirals  you  are  instructed  to  tip  your  machine 
over  sideways  to  an  angle  of  about  75  or  80  degrees  and 
then  by  pulling  up  on  your  elevating  planes  (which  by 
reason  of  the  vertical  position  of  the  machine,  then 
operate  in  the  same  way  as  the  rudder  when  the  ma- 
chine is  in  its  normal  position  i.  e.  as  a  horizontal  con- 
trol) to  execute  a  close  spiral.  In  doing  this  the  ma- 
chine follows  a  course  much  like  a  grain  of  shot  would 
if  you  put  it  in  a  bottle  and  caused  it  to  run  round  the 
side  by  moving  the  bottle  rapidly  in  a  circle.  The  first 
time  I  tried  this  everything  went  all  right,  but  the  next 
time,  I  pulled  my  elevating  planes  too  soon  before  the 
machine  had  tipped  up  enough.  The  result  was  that 
the  elevating  planes  were  still  performing  their  normal 
functions  and  instead  of  doing  a  spiral,  I  did  something 
which  resembled  an  irregular  loop  the  loop.    When  the 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  23 

machine  got  up  on  her  end  and  started  to  go  over  back- 
wards and  sideways,  it  naturally  did  not  take  me  long 
to  guess  that  something  was  wrong.  When  you  get 
mixed  up  in  a  Nieuport,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  put 
your  controls  in  the  center  and  the  machine  soon  be- 
gins to  dive  head  first  for  mother  earth.  It  is  then  a 
very  simple  matter  to  pull  her  up  straight  again.  I 
simply  followed  instructions  and  did  this  and  the  ma- 
chine came  out  without  the  slightest  difficulty.  Started 
in  again  on  my  spiral  and  did  the  same  trick  over 
again,  not  realizing  what  I  was  doing  wrong.  After 
that  I  flew  along  straight  for  a  minute  until  I  had  time 
to  work  out  what  was  wrong  and  then  did  my  spiral 
all  right  and  have  done  a  number  of  others  since.  It 
gives  you  a  great  deal  of  confidence  and  makes  flying 
much  more  pleasant,  to  find  that  you  can  do  this  kind 
of  thing  so  easily.  One  is  of  course  always  careful  not 
to  try  any  unusual  manoeuvres  unless  one  is  so  high 
that  a  fall  of  a  couple  of  hundred  metres  more  or  less 
will  not  make  any  difference.  Provided  you  are  high 
enough  you  do  not  care  much  what  the  machine  does 
and  it  is  a  great  comfort  to  begin  to  get  the  feeling 
that  no  matter  what  happens  you  can  come  out  right 
side  up.  There  is  nothing  the  matter  with  my  heart 
I  guess,  as  I  purposely  came  down  three  thousand 
metres  in  five  minutes  the  other  day  and  did  not  feel 
it  at  all. 

Plessis-Belleville.    July  13, 1917. 

I  reached  Plessis-Belleville  last  Sunday  and  am  now 

going  in  to  Paris  for  the  big  celebration  tomorrow  on 

Bastille  Day.     There  is  to  be  another  grand  parade  of 

all  the  allied  troops  like  the  one  last  year,  but  this  year 


24  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

we  hear  that  there  will  also  be  an  American  contingent. 
Both  Chadwick  and  I  were  offered  the  chance  of  flying 
from  Plessis  to  Paris  tomorrow  and  circling  over  the 
city  at  the  time  of  the  parade  as  a  part  of  the  per- 
formance, but  as  we  had  both  received  a  permission 
to  go  and  see  the  parade,  etc.,  from  the  ground,  we 
declined  the  chance  to  fly.  I  have  seen  Paris  from  the 
Eiffel  Tower  and  it  would  not  be  much  fun  simply 
flying  over  high  in  formation  and  then  flying  back  to 
Plessis  again.  There  is  much  more  of  interest  to  see  on 
the  ground. 

Plessis-Belleville  is  one  of  the  great  French  distribut- 
ing stations  for  pilots  going  to  the  front.  We  are  sent 
here  for  some  further  training  which  usually  occupies 
about  two  weeks.  I  have  not  had  much  further  trouble 
since  my  smash  at  Avord  and  was  declared  available 
and  ready  for  the  front  after  three  days  at  Plessis. 
Chadwick  and  I  are  the  next  two  pilots  on  the  list  and 
we  shall  therefore  probably  be  off  to  the  front  in  three 
or  four  days.  I  had  hoped  to  remain  longer  at  Plessis 
and  get  in  some  more  practice,  but  I  am  glad  to  get 
through  in  one  way  as  it  will  enable  me  to  go  in  the 
same  escadrille*  as  Oliver  Chadwick.  He  is  the  best 
man  I  know  in  the  organization  and  we  get  along  very 
well  together.  We  asked  to  be  put  in  the  same  squad- 
ron as  it  would  be  rather  lonely  for  one  American  to  be 
by  himself  in  a  French  escadrille.  To  what  escadrille 
we  shall  be  sent  and  to  what  section  of  the  front,  we 
do  not  as  yet  know.  The  captain  at  Plessis  said  he 
would  put  us  together  and  we  also  hope  to  be  able  to 
get  M with  us. 

You  will  probably  be  surprised  that  I  am  going  to 

*  Squadron. 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  25 

the  front  so  soon.  It  is  sooner  than  I  had  expected 
but  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  fight  with  the 
French,  before  we  are  transferred  to  the  U.  S.  forces, 
which  I  think  will  be  soon. 

Plessis-Belleville.    July  15,  1917. 

At  last  I  have  a  little  while  in  which  to  write  you 
something  about  what  I  have  been  doing  lately.  I  am 
not  now  really  at  Plessis,  but  am  sitting  in  the  garden 
of  an  inn  in  the  town  of  Ermenonville  which  is'about  six 
or  seven  kilometres  from  Plessis.  Chadwick  and  I 
strolled  over  here  for  lunch  and  have  been  writing  some 
letters  ever  since.  The  town  is  chiefly  famous  as  the 
place  where  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  died  and  is  buried. 
Also  there  are  several  fine  chateaux  nearby  and  a  won- 
derful big  old  estate  called  the  '^Domaine  de  Chalis.'' 
There  is  the  ruin  of  a  beautiful  old  castle  on  it  and  the 
place  is  now  kept  as  a  musemn  by  the  "Institut  de 
France.''  I  would  like  to  know  something  of  its  his- 
tory, but  have  not  been  able  to  discover  anything  as 
yet.  The  grounds  are  very  beautiful  and  have  the 
most  complete  system  of  artificial  ponds  and  lakes. 
They  are  now  so  old  that  you  would  never  know  that 
they  were  artificial,  were  it  not  for  the  way  in  which 
they  are  connected  up  at  different  levels.  Chadwick 
and  I  took  a  long  walk  through  the  place  the  other  day. 

I  have  spent  considerable  time  in  walking  about  the 
country  in  the  various  places  where  I  have  been. 
Physical  health  is  of  course  of  prime  importance  in 
this  business  and  I  think  the  time  is  well  spent.  I 
have  also  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  in  another  way 
which  I  do  not  think  nearly  as  profitable,  namely,  in 
keeping  a  diary.    I  bought  a  good  sized  one  as  soon  as 


26  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

I  arrived  and  have  kept  it  faithfully  ever  since.  I 
think  a  diary  in  which  one  merely  puts  down  in  out- 
line what  one  does  each  day,  is  very  tiresome  both  for 
the  keeper  and  anyone  who  might  afterwards  look  at 
it.  There  should  certainly  be  included  some  thoughts 
on  various  topics  as  they  arise,  but  to  keep  such  a 
diary  which  is  at  all  complete,  involves  the  expenditure 
of  a  great  deal  of  time,  and  also  a  great  deal  of  repeti- 
tion of  what  I  write  home  to  you  in  my  letters.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  will  be  better  to  write  more  letters 
home,  and  if  they  are  fairly  complete  and  you  save 
them,  they  will  serve  the  purpose  of  a  diary.  From 
this  day  henceforth  therefore,  no  more  diary.  When  I 
get  to  the  front  and  am  flying  every  day,  I  shall  have 
even  less  spare  time  than  I  have  now  and  I  prefer  to 
spend  it  learning  how  to  get  the  Boche.  I  would  like 
to  make  myself  proficient  enough  to  warm  up  a  few  of 
Kaiser  BilFs  aviators  without  having  them  do  the  same 
to  me.  Better  a  live  aviator  with  a  whole  skin  than  a 
dead  one  with  a  complete  diary. 

Pau  was  great  fun  and  a  most  delightful  place.  You 
will  soon  have  the  postals  I  sent  which  will  show  you 
what  the  country  is  like  better  than  I  could  describe  it. 
One  afternoon  just  before  I  left,  I  was  up  2800  metres 
with  two  other  machines,  doing  some  *'vol  de  groupe"* 
work.  Down  below  there  was  a  haze  which  allowed 
you  to  see  the  ground  under  you  very  well,  but  which 
in  the  distance  appeared  solid.  We  were  just  at  the 
top  of  the  haze  and  the  air  above  was  as  clear  as  crystal 
and  freezing  cold.  Fifty  kilometres  away  rose  the 
towering  snow  covered  peaks  of  the  Pyrenees,  but  they 
appeared  very  close  in  the  clear  thin  air.    The  haze 

*  Formation  flying. 


•    IN  THE  SCHOOLS  27 

completely  hid  all  the  lower  portions  of  the  mountains 
and  as  this  haze  in  the  distance  very  much  resembles 
water,  it  seemed  exactly  as  though  one  was  in  a  boat 
looking  at  a  chain  of  rocky  islands  rising  out  of  a  win- 
ter sea.  A  very  fine  sight,  but  as  one  is  within  50 
metres  of  several  other  machines  in  vol  de  groupe, 
and  as  it  is  necessary  to  maintain  that  relative  posi- 
tion, one  has  not  a  great  deal  of  time  to  be  gaping  at 
the  scenery.  This  kind  of  work  is  good  fun  and  of 
course  very  important,  as  machines  no  longer  go  out 
alone  at  the  front  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  very  skil- 
ful and  experienced  pilots.  The  flying  is  generally  in 
groups  of  four  or  five,  the  reason  being  both  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  hunters  and  to  make  surer  of  the  hunted. 
The  idea  seems  to  be  to  try  to  find  one  machine  by  itself 
or  to  manoeuvre  one  of  a  group  until  it  is  out  of  touch 
with  its  fellows,  and  then  the  whole  gang  jumps  on  the 
one  unfortunate  ''isole."  *  Hardly  seems  a  square 
deal,  but  after  all,  the  aim  is  to  put  as  many  of  the  other 
fellow's  machines  out  of  business  as  possible.  The 
vol  de  groupe  work  at  Pau  was  done  on  Nieuports  of 
a  type  now  in  use  at  the  front,  having  15  sq.  metres  of 
wing  surface,  110  H.  P.  motor  and  making  a  little  better 
than  100  miles  per  hour.  The  Nieuports  here  at  Plessis 
are  of  the  same  type.  I  have  also  been  flying  a  good 
deal  here  in  the  140  H.  P.  Spad  which  makes  a  Httle 
better  than  115  miles  per  hour.  The  new  200  H.  P. 
Spad  of  which  there  are  not  as  yet  a  great  many  at  the 
front,  makes  about  125  miles  per  hour,  which  is  moving 
along  pretty  lively. 

I  am  enclosing  you  a  letter  which  Chadwick  wrote  me 
when  he  was  at  Pau  and  I  was  still  at  Avord.    It  will 

*  Solitary  machine. 


28  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

tell  you  something  of  the  work  there.  The  monitor 
whose  death  he  mentions  killed  himself  doing  a  quick 
turn  close  to  the  ground.  He  slipped  off  on  a  wing 
and  struck  before  he  could  right  himself.  The  great 
danger  to  the  experts  is  that  they  get  to  thinking  there 
is  nothing  they  cannot  do.  I  make  a  practice  of  never 
y  doing  anything  out  of  the  ordinary  until  I  am  at  least 
400  metres  up  and  hope  to  be  able  to  force  myself  to 
keep  this  rule.  Then  if  anything  goes  wrong  you 
can  fall  a  couple  of  hundred  metres  without  getting 
into  trouble.  We  have  young  pilots  here  who  try  to 
show  off  by  doing  queer  things  just  as  they  are  rising. 
They  remind  me  of  the  ^'expert"  shot  who  flourishes 
a  gun  about  his  head  and  looks  down  the  muzzle. 
The  two  types  are  about  the  same  and  are  riding  for  a 
fall  sooner  or  later. 

After  finishing  the  spiral  work  at  Pau  we  did  five 
hours  of  vol  de  groupe  and  then  went  to  the  class  of 
acrobacy.  When  you  arrive  at  the  acrobacy  hangars, 
the  head  mechanic  greets  you  with  a  board  on  which 
is  a  long  list  of  fines  to  be  paid  by  the  pilots  for  the 
benefit  of  the  mechanics.  For  instance — bad  landing 
50  centimes;  landing  the  machine  on  its  back,  3  francs; 
completely  wrecking  a  machine  5  francs;  putting  your 
lunch  in  the  machine,  1  franc;  and  many  others.  I 
caused  loud  shouts  of  glee  by  inadvertently  ( ?)  sitting 
in  the  monitor's  special  rocking  chair  from  which  he 
watches  the  acrobacy.  This  was  chalked  up  at  1  franc, 
but  was  all  they  got  against  me  I  am  glad  to  say.  We 
only  got  about  one  hour  of  acrobacy  at  Pau,  three 
flights  of  about  20  minutes  each.  The  monitor  first 
puts  you  in  a  machine  on  the  ground,  tells  you  what  to 
do  in  order  to  perform  the  various  evolutions,  makes 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  29 

you  go  through  the  motions,  and  then  sends  you  up  to 
perform  while  everybody  else  stands  around  on  the 
ground  and  watches.  The  machines  in  this  class  are 
in  the  finest  possible  condition  so  as  to  avoid  as  much 
as  possible  the  danger  of  breaking  from  undue  strains 
put  upon  them  by  green  pilots  learning  to  do  the 
stunts.  The  wing  surface  is  only  13  sq.  metres  and 
they  are  I  think  the  smallest  biplane  in  existence.  The 
Nieuports  at  the  front  have  15  sq.  metres  and  the  Spad 
more  still.  The  13  metre  handles  very  quickly  and 
having  such  small  wings  is  less  subject  to  strain  and 
breaking. 

The  first  thing  we  had  to  do  was  the  much  talked  of 
' '  vrille.* '  The  EngHsh  call  it  a  nose  spin  and  the  Ameri- 
cans a  tail  spin.  You  shut  off  the  motor,  put  the 
machine  into  a  loss  of  speed,  throw  all  the  controls  to 
one  side  and  it  starts  falling  head  first  at  the  same  time 
spinning  very  rapidly.  The  nose  of  the  plane  turns 
ahnost  as  though  on  a  pivot  while  the  tail  describes 
circles.  The  machine  falls  vertically  but  does  not  spin 
vertically  on  its  nose,  on  the  contrary,  as  it  turns,  its 
directional  axis  makes  an  angle  of  about  seventy  de- 
grees with  the  normal  line  of  flight  of  the  plane  when 
flying  level.  To  straighten  out  you  simply  put  your 
controls  in  the  centre,  the  machine  stops  spinning  and 
dives  straight  for  the  ground  and  it  is  then  very  easy 
to  pull  it  up  straight  and  put  on  the  motor.  The  vrille 
is  very  spectacular  but  in  reality  is  extremely  simple. 
The  pilot  does  a  few  simple  things  which  are  hard  to 
do  wrong,  and  the  machine  does  the  rest.  Simple  as 
the  manoeuvre  is,  it  has  been  the  cause  of  a  great  many 
deaths,  but  there  is  no  excuse  for  so  many  men  being 
killed  in  doing  their  first  vrille.    The  reason  seems  to 


30  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

be  that  they  hear  other  green  pilots  talking  about  it 
until  it  gets  on  their  nerves  and  then  when  they  have 
started  to  do  the  vrille,  they  get  excited  and  forget 
what  to  do  in  order  to  come  out.  If  you  do  not  put 
your  controls  in  the  centre  the  machine  will  keep  on 
vrilling  until  it  hits  the  ground.  I  have  personally 
seen  several  machines  fall  this  way  and  the  men  were 
always  killed. 

The  vrille  got  its  bad  name  in  the  early  days  of  fly- 
ing, for  the  old-type  machines,  once  in  one,  would  not 
as  a  rule  come  out  no  matter  what  the  pilot  did.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  there  is  nothing  hard  or  dangerous  about 
it  in  a  strong  modern  machine.  If  you  have  the  motor 
running  open  you  can  only  do  a  vrille  for  a  very  short 
time  for  you  will  soon  get  spinning  so  fast  that  the 
wings  will  tear  off.  This  frequently  happens  when  a 
pilot  is  killed  in  a  fight.  With  the  motor  off  or  slowed 
down  all  the  way,  a  good  machine  will  vrille  indefinitely 
without  breaking.  All  young  pilots  should  I  think  be 
taught  how  to  go  into  and  come  out  of  a  vrille  before 
attempting  any  other  forms  of  acrobacy,  for  in  at- 
tempting to  do  some  other  stunt  they  will  often  get 
mixed  up  and  unintentionally  fall  into  a  vrille.  If 
however  they  already  know  how  to  do  a  vrille  they 
will  reahze  it  the  instant  their  machine  starts  into 
one  and  will  be  able  to  straighten  out  without  difficulty. 

The  afternoon  I  arrived  at  Pau  a  French  lieutenant 
evidently  lost  his  head  with  the  result  that  he  started 
his  vrille  at  1500  metres  and  only  ended  it  when  he  hit 
the  ground,  losing  his  life  also.  A  machine  in  a  vrille 
looks  very  much  like  a  leaf  falling  off  a  tree.  When 
you  come  out  headed  for  the  ground  you  are  of  course 
going  very  fast,  much  faster  than  the  machine  would 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  31 

fly  on  the  level.  The  second  time  I  tried  it  I  thought 
I  would  try  and  count  how  many  turns  I  made,  and 
therefore  got  my  eye  on  a  big  clump  of  woods  under 
me.  I  counted  the  first  time  all  right,  but  after  that 
she  went  around  so  fast  that  the  woods  began  to  look 
like  the  blades  of  an  electric  fan,  L  e.,  all  woods,  so  I 
gave  up  that  count  as  a  bad  job.  Have  done  a  num- 
ber of  others  since  and  it  is  really  very  good  fun.  In 
the  Spad  you  fall  just  as  fast  but  do  not  twist  so  quickly, 
so  that  the  sensation  is  pleasanter.  A  new  pilot  doing 
his  first  vrille  is  told  to  start  it  at  1500  metres,  keep  his 
eye  on  his  altimetre,  and  come  out  after  he  has  fallen 
200  metres.  This  gives  him  lots  of  time  to  try  again 
if  he  does  not  get  his  controls  in  the  centre  the  first 
time. 

The  other  things  we  had  to  do  were  vertical  ^^vir- 
ages,''  *  which  look  easy  but  are  in  reality  much  the 
hardest  of  all  to  do  properly;  "renversements,^'  t  and 
'Hournants."  J 

To  execute  a  renversement  you  pull  your  machine  up 
a  little  into  a  climbing  angle,  put  all  your  controls 
hard  to  the  side  on  which  you  wish  to  turn  and  at  the 
same  time  shut  down  the  motor.  This  causes  the 
machine  to  turn  sharply  over  sideways  and  brings  it 
out  on  its  nose  but  facing  in  the  opposite  direction. 
You  then  open  up  the  motor  and  level  the  machine 
out  again  by  pulling  in  on  your  elevating  controls. 
The  result  is  the  quickest  possible  way  in  which  to 
make  a  180  degree  turn.  If  you  begin  by  pulling  the 
plane  up  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  from  the  horizontal 
you  will  be  slightly  on  your  back  just  after  the  turn, 
the  turn  being  made  both  on  the  lateral  and  the  direc- 

*  Turns.  f  Immelmann  turns.  %  Barrel  rolls. 


32  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

tional  axis  of  the  machine,  that  is  to  say  sideways  and 
not  over  backwards  as  in  the  loop.  The  same  ma- 
noeuvre may  be  carried  out  without  first  pulling  the 
plane  into  a  climbing  angle  but  will  in  this  case  result 
in  the  loss  of  about  fifty  metres  of  height.  By  climb- 
ing a  Httle  first  or  ''zooming,"  as  it  is  called  in  aviation 
slang,  a  renversement  may  be  executed  with  the  loss  of 
little  or  no  altitude. 

To  do  a  tournant  the  controls  are  handled  in  much 
the  same  way  as  for  the  renversement  but  the  movement 
of  them  is  accentuated  and  instead  of  straightening  out 
after  turning  180  degrees,  you  allow  the  machine  to 
make  a  complete  turn,  rolling  over  on  its  back  and  then 
continuing  right  side  up  in  its  original  direction.  Both 
the  tournant  and  the  renversement  may  be  done  with- 
out slowing  down  the  motor  all  the  way  and  when  done 
with  the  motor  on  are  quicker  and  prettier  to  look  at 
but  they  are  also  harder  to  control  so  exactly  and 
subject  the  machine  to  a  good  deal  of  strain  which 
seems  unnecessary. 

As  they  would  only  give  us  about  an  hour  of  acro- 
bacy  in  all  at  Pau,  we  had  no  time  to  do  more  than  try 
each  manoeuvre  out  a  few  times  and  see  how  it  should 
be  done.  Since  then  I  have  had  another  hour  and  a 
half  of  acrobacy  here  in  the  Spad  and  have  learned  to 
execute  some  of  the  stunts  properly  but  am  still  in  need 
of  a  great  deal  of  practice.  The  machines  here  how- 
ever are  old  ones  which  have  been  sent  back  to  be 
used  up,  being  no  longer  fit  for  service  at  the  front. 
It  is  therefore  not  safe  to  do  anything  but  ordinary 
flying  in  them  as  the  wings  will  not  stand  it.  You  can 
see  the  ends  of  the  wings  wobbling  with  the  vibrations 
of  the  motor  in  some  of  them.    When  we  get  to  the 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  33 

front  and  have  our  own  machine,  a  new  one  in  fine  con- 
dition, there  will  then  be  a  chance  to  do  a  lot  more 
practising.  There  is  only  one  Spad  here  on  which  we 
are  allowed  to  do  acrobacy  and  as  there  are  a  good 
many  pilots,  one  does  not  often  get  a  chance  to  use  it. 
Personally  I  shall  ^be  glad  to  get  to  the  front  where  I 
shall  always  have  my  own  machine  and  become  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  it.  There  is  always  of  course  a 
certain  amount  of  danger  from  school  machines  which 
are  being  continually  abused  by  green  pilots.  By  the 
time  you  get  this  letter,  however,  my  schooling  will 
all  be  behind  me  and  I  shall  have  been  several  weeks  at 
the  front.  There  is  where  the  real  schooling  begins. 
You  can  fly  to  your  heart's  content  and  do  all  the 
practising  you  want  and  I  hope  to  get  in  a  great  deal 
before  taking  on  any  Boches. 

I  told  you  that  they  refused  to  let  me  go  to  the 
machine  gun  school  at  Cazau.  After  Chadwick  was 
there,  an  order  came  down  from  the  colonel  in  com- 
mand of  the  schools,  directing  that  no  more  pilots  were 
to  go  to  Cazau.  His  reason  was  that  the  school  is 
intended  for  the  training  of  aeroplane  mitrailleurs*  who 
shoot  from  the  two-seater  machines  with  movable  guns, 
and  is  only  amusing,  but  not  beneficial,  for  pilots  who 
are  to  use  a  fixed  gun  on  a  one-seater.  I  don't  agree 
with  him  on  this  and  neither  do  the  U.  S.  aviation  offi- 
cers with  whom  I  have  talked,  but  "orders  is  orders.'' 
It  is  just  as  important  to  know  where  to  shoot  with  a 
fixed  gun  in  order  to  hit  a  moving  mark,  as  it  is  with  a 
movable  gun.  Also  it  seems  to  me  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  know  in  what  position  is  it  most  difficult 
for  the  other  fellow  to  shoot  you.    A  great  deal  of  our 

•  Machine-gunners. 


34  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

work  will  consist  in  attacking  two-seater  machines  and 
the  harder  the  shot  you  can  give  your  opponent,  the 
better.  We  got  a  little  machine  gun  work  at  Pau  on 
the  ground,  and  here  I  have  so  far  had  four  flights  of 
about  fifteen  minutes  each,  shooting  at  a  round  spot 
of  sand  on  the  ground,  with  a  machine  gun  from  a 
Nieuport.  The  small  fast  chasse  machines,  one  of 
which  I  shall  have  at  the  front,  are  all  one-seaters  in 
the  French  army  and  your  machine  gun  is  fixed.  I 
think  the  French  make  a  great  mistake  in  giving  so 
little  shooting  practice  to  their  pilots  and  that  it  is 
very  poor  economy  to  hurry  up  a  man's  training 
by  cutting  down  on  such  an  important  part  of  it.  Once 
we  reach  our  escadrille  at  the  front,  however,  I  think 
we  will  be  given  a  good  deal  of  additional  training. 

This  is  about  everything  there  is  to  tell  you  with  re- 
gard to  the  training  both  here  and  at  Pau.  Chadwick 
and  I  are  now  merely  awaiting  our  orders  and  getting 
in  as  much  work  as  we  can  in  the  meantime.  They 
are  evidently  holding  us  until  they  can  put  us  together 
in  the  same  escadrille  as  we  asked.  I  now  speak  enough 
French  to  carry  on  an  ordinary  conversation  and  ex- 
pect to  have  little  difficulty  with  it  after  one  month 
where  I  shall  speak  practically  nothing  else. 

Do  not  worry  about  me  just  because  I  am  at  the 
front  instead  of  still  in  the  schools.  As  I  told  you  in  my 
last  letter,  two-thirds  of  the  deaths  in  the  French  avia- 
tion at  Plessis  and  the  front,  i.  e.,  in  the  war  zone,  dur- 
ing the  month  of  May,  were  from  accident.  You  would 
not  wonder  at  this  if  you  could  see  the  extraordinary 
things  some  of  the  French  pilots  do.  Two  poor  fellows 
fell  in  a  Farman  and  were  burned  to  a  crisp  the  day  I 
reached  here,  just  because  the  pilot  did  something  in 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  35 

utter  defiance  of  all  the  rules  of  flying.  He  pulled  his 
machine  up  until  it  lost  its  speed  and  naturally  he  fell; 
although  he  righted  her  again  about  thirty  metres 
from  the  ground,  he  then  proceeded  to  make  the  same 
mistake  over  again  and  when  the  machine  struck  the 
ground  she  immediately  went  up  in  flames.  Even  after 
he  saw  he  was  going  to  smash,  if  he  had  had  presence 
of  mind  enough  to  cut  off  his  motor,  there  would  proba- 
bly have  been  no  fire.  Over  and  over  again  I  have 
seen  machines  smashed  to  bits,  but  as  the  pilot  cut  off 
his-- motor  first,  no  fire  resulted. 

When  a  man  does  in  aviation  what  the  Farman  pilot 
I  mentioned  above  did,  he  might  just  as  well  take  an 
automobile  and  run  it  head  first  into  a  wall  or  off  a 
bridge  and  expect  not  to  be  hurt.  I  should  say  at  a 
guess  that  the  deaths  in  the  French  schools  at  least 
equal  those  at  the  front  and  more  pilots  kill  them- 
selves needlessly  than  the  Germans  ever  shoot.  No 
Americans  have  been  killed  in  the  schools  since  I  came 
over  and  the  Frenchmen  who  come  to  untimely  ends 
by  accident,  are  usually  officers  who  are  either  too  old 
or  otherwise  unadapted  to  aviation.  There  seem  to  be 
a  good  many  students  of  this  kind  who  are  given  a 
chance  at  aviation,  as  a  reward  of  merit,  but  who  are 
totally  incapable  of  being  made  into  good  pilots. 

I  mentioned  above  the  Frenchman  who  fell  in  a 
vrille  the  day  I  reached  Pau.  Two  days  later  we  all 
got  ''repos"*  in  the  afternoon  in  order  to  attend  his 
funeral.  All  the  pilots  in  the  school  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  mechanicians  marched  behind  the  hearse  through 
the  streets  of  Pau,  in  the  regulation  French  military 
fimeral.    This  man  happened  to  be  a  Protestant  and 

*  Leave. 


36  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

after  the  service  in  the  church,  we  all  marched  on  again 
to  the  cemetery.  In  the  church  two  soldiers  in  full 
uniform,  steel  helmets  and  fixed  bayonets,  stood  guard 
on  each  side  of  the  casket  during  the  reading  of  the 
service.  At  the  grave,  after  the  minister  had  finished, 
the  captain  of  the  school  made  quite  a  long  speech  and 
was  in  turn  followed  by  some  old  duffer  who  repre- 
sented some  Order  of  which  I  could  not  discover  the 
name.  This  seemed  to  me  pretty  trying  on  the  de- 
ceased's two  sisters  and  brother,  the  only  members  of 
his  family  present,  but  the  rest  of  the  proceeding  was 
even  worse.  These  two  poor  women,  who  seemed  com- 
pletely broken  up  and  were  sobbing  continuously,  first 
had  a  long  walk  through  the  streets  after  their  brother's 
body  and  then,  after  he  had  been  laid  in  the  vault,  they 
stood  side  by  side  under  a  nearby  shed  while  about 
sixty  pilots  and  instructors  lined  up  and  filing  past, 
shook  each  by  the  hand.  It  may  seem  a  strange  com- 
parison, but  the  hand  shaking  reminded  me  of  a  crowd 
of  wedding  guests  filing  past  the  bride  and  groom.  It 
must  be  an  ordeal  for  the  family  at  such  a  time  and  it 
is  hard  to  see  what  comfort  such  a  formality  can  be  to 
anyone  in  trouble. 

There  was  one  other  acrobatic  stunt  we  learned  at 
Pau  which  I  did  not  tell  you  about  and  that  is  what  is 
known  as  a  wing  slip.  You  put  the  machine  sideways 
in  a  vertical  position  with  the  motor  running  at  about 
two-thirds  of  its  normal  speed  in  order  to  prevent  the 
plane  from  turning  on  its  nose  and  diving.  With  the 
aid  of  the  motor  and  by  manipulating  the  controls, 
you  can  then  make  the  machine  fall  sideways  and  it  at 
the  same  time  goes  forward  due  to  the  pull  of  the 
motor.     I  generally  start  this  manoeuvre  by  bracing 


IN  THE  SCHOOLS  37 

one  shoulder  under  the  edge  of  the  body  alongside  of 
my  seat.  Otherwise  when  you  turn  her  to  90°,  you 
fall  up  against  the  side  and  your  belt  is  the  only 
thing  that  holds  you.  Also  sometimes  she  slips  over 
a  little  on  her  back  and  you  get  an  unpleasant  sensa- 
tion of  commencing  to  fall  out  although  of  course  the 
belt  would  only  let  you  leave  the  seat  a  few  inches. 
The  greatest  possible  speed  can  be  attained  in  this  way 
as  the  wings  offer  practically  no  resistance  to  the  air 
and  the  only  thing  holding  you  back  is  the  wind  re- 
sistance against  the  side  of  the  body  of  the  machine. 
It  is  in  this  wing  slip  that  you  get  a  real  impression  of 
speed  and  you  certainly  do  travel.  The  wind  whistles 
through  the  wires  and  you  fall  a  thousand  feet  in  an 
incredibly  short  time.  A  conservative  estimate  of 
the  speed  would  be  I  think  200  miles  an  hour,  at  least 
as  fast  as  a  man  would  fall  through  the  air  and  infinitely 
faster  than  any  machine  will  fly  on  the  level.  To 
come  out  of  a  wing  slip  you  simply  dive  in  the  same 
direction  that  you  are  falling  and  then  pull  up  straight. 
The  stunt  may  of  course  be  varied  by  slipping  at  a 
more  gradual  angle  instead  of  coming  down  vertically 
and  in  this  modified  form  is  sometimes  used  as  a  means 
of  losing  height  preparatory  to  landing, 

I  don't  think  it  will  take  me  long  to  settle  down  to 
the  law  again  when  the  war  is  over.  This  sort  of  thing 
makes  you  appreciate  the  blessings  of  home  and  I 
shall  be  so  glad  to  get  back,  that  it  will  take  quite 
some  war  to  get  me  away  again. 

Plessis-Belleville.    July  24,  1917. 
We  have  just  received  our  orders  for  which  we  have 
been  waiting  and  Oliver  and  I  leave  to-morrow  for  the 


38  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

front.  We  have  both  been  ready  to  go  for  the  past  ten 
days,  but  they  have  been  holding  us  up  for  some  rea- 
son or  other.  We  asked  to  be  sent  out  together  and 
our  request  was  granted  and  I  am  also  glad  to  say  that 
we  are  being  sent  to  the  crack  group  of  the  French 
army,  the  one  in  which  Guynemer  and  many  other 
famous  French  aces  are.  It  looks  also  as  though  we 
were  going  to  get  Spads,  the  best  chasse  machine  that 
the  French  have.  It  is  of  course  a  single-seater  com- 
bat machine.  I  do  not  know  whether  we  shall  be  in 
the  same  escadrille  with  Guynemer  or  not,  but  do 
not  believe  so,  as  his  is  supposed  to  be  the  best 
escadrille  in  the  service  and  I  should  hardly  think 
that  they  would  take  in  a  couple  of  green-horns.  A 
'^groupe  de  combat*^  comprises  four  escadrilles.  We 
are  in  the  same  group  with  the  cracks,  but  I  do  not 
know  what  escadrille  we  shall  be  assigned  to.  Our 
location  will  be  along  the  north  coast  near  Dunkirk. 
Unless  all  the  omens  fail  there  is  going  to  be  quite  a 
bit  of  excitement  in  that  region  very  shortly  and  we 
are  very  lucky  to  have  an  opportunity  to  get  in  it. 


ESCADRILLE  N.   73 


Insignia  of  Escadrille  N.  73 


Bergues.    July  28, 1917. 

Just  arrived  at  the  front  today  and  am  in  Escadrille 
N.  73,  Groupe  de  Combat  12.  The  group  is  otherwise 
known  as  ''Le  Groupe  Brocard^'  after  its  famous  com- 
mander Brocard,  who  is  one  of  the  great  French  air- 
men. One  of  the  escadrilles  of  the  group  is  N.  3,  more 
generally  known  as  ''Les  Cigognes"  or  ''The  Storks" 
when  translated  into  EngUsh.  The  name  comes  from 
their  insignia,  a  stork  painted  on  the  sides  of  the  fuse- 
lage* of  each  machine,  and  this  squadron  is  easily  the 
best  known  in  the  French  aviation.  The  whole  group 
carries  the  stork  as  its  insignia,  the  bird  being  placed 
in  different  positions  to  distinguish  the  several  esca- 
drilles, and  consequently  the  entire  group  is  often  re- 
ferred to  as  "Les  Cigognes."  The  original  "Cigognes," 
however,  which  has  gained  such  a  wide  reputation,  is 
Escadrille  N.  3. 

This  group  is  the  most  famous  fighting  one  in  the  army 
and  admittedly  the  best,  so  you  can  see  that  Chadwick 
and  I  were  very  lucky  to  get  in  it.  It  contains  more 
famous  fighting  pilots  than  any  of  the  other  French 
flying  units,  one  in  particular  Guynemer,  who  has  to 
date  brought  down  about  48  Boches  officially  and  many 
more  unofficially.  To  count  on  a  man's  record,  a 
victory  has  to  be  seen  and  reported  by  two  French 
observers  on  the  ground  or  some  such  rule  as  this,  so  that 
a  Boche  shot  down  far  behind  the  lines  where  no  one 
but  his  comrades  see  him  fall,  does  not  help  a  pilot's 
total.  Last  evening  Guynemer  got  one  25  kilometres 
in  the  German  territory  and  as  I  sit  here  on  the  aero- 

*Body. 
41 


42  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

drome  he  has  just  gotten  into  his  machine  and  started 
off  for  the  lines  in  search  of  another  victim. 

Chadwick  and  I  and  two  other  Americans  who  came 
with  us,  are  the  first  Americans  to  be  sent  to  this 
group.  An  escadrille  or  squadron  in  the  French  ser- 
vice nimibers  about  fifteen  pilots  and  machines.  We 
are  indeed  fortunate  to  get  in  this  crack  group,  but  as 
it  has  suffered  rather  heavily  lately,  they  had  to  fill 
up,  and  so  we  got  our  chance.  This  morning  the 
captain  of  one  of  the  escadrilles  *  was  killed  and  our 
own  chief  t  was  shot  down  with  three  bullets  in  his 
back  but  will  pull  through  all  right.  He  was  shot  down 
last  night  also,  but  only  his  machine  was  damaged. 
He  went  up  again  this  morning  and  while  attacking  one 
Boche,  another  got  him  from  behind.  He  has  17 
Boches  to  his  credit  officially,  so  I  guess  he  is  entitled 
to  the  rest  that  his  wounds  will  give  him.  The  cap- 
tain who  was  killed  had  gotten  seven  German  machines 
officially,  so  we  are  sort  of  out  of  luck  to-day,  losing 
two  such  good  men.  It  seems  to  come  in  bunches  that 
way  for  some  reason  or  other. 

It  looks  as  though  I  shall  see  lots  of  service  and  have 
a  chance  to  learn  a  great  deal  before  the  time  comes  to 
transfer  to  the  U.  S.  Army,  if  it  does  come.  We  hope 
to  be  able  to  stay  where  we  are  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time  and  that  we  shall  not  be  forced  to  leave 
this  French  unit  before  we  have  learned  a  lot  more 
about  military  aviation  and  have  been  able  to  make 
some  return  for  all  the  training  that  we  have  received. 
This  group  is  usually,  like  the  Foreign  Legion,  moved 

*  Captain  Auger  of  Escadrille  N.  3. 

t  Captain  (then  Lieutenant)  Deullin,  originally  of  Escadrille  N.  3, 
but  at  this  time  commanding  Escadrille  N.  73. 


Captain  Georges  Guyiieiner. 

Taken  at  St.  Pol-sur-Mer  near  Dunkirk,  France,  in  September,  1917, 
shortly  before  his  death.  Captain  Guynemer,  who  was  at  this  time 
the  French  ace  of  aces,  is  standing  in  one  of  the  hangars  of  his  squad- 
ron with  his  machine  "Vieux  Charles"  showing  in  the  background. 
The  machine  is  dismantled  for  repairs. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  43 

about  to  the  particular  locality  in  which  there  is  going 
to  be  an  attack,  so  we  shall  see  plenty  of  action.  It 
was  for  instance  at  the  battles  of  Verdun  and  the  Somme 
and  it  seems  that  it  is  usually  in  the  thick  of  it.  For 
this  reason  it  is  obvious  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  tell 
you  where  I  am  and  must  be  very  careful  what  I  write. 
Since  beginning  this  letter  I  have  been  talking  to  one 
of  the  officers  about  the  censorship  and  have,  as  you 
will  notice,  been  doing  some  censoring  on  my  own 
account.  No  details  that  could  possibly  be  of  any  mili- 
tary importance,  so  you  will  have  to  be  content  with 
much  briefer  and  more  general  letters  than  I  have  been 
writing  heretofore. 

You  will  be  glad  to  know  that  I  got  a  S.P.A.D.* 
machine,  the  kind  I  hoped  to  get.  Also  I  shall  have 
a  chance  to  do  a  good  deal  more  practising  before 
starting  in  in  earnest.  The  officers  are  as  usual  very 
nice  and  willing  to  help  in  any  way  they  can.  We 
get  a  great  deal  of  advice  and  information  here  which 
I  have  been  anxious  to  get  from  the  beginning.  When 
the  time  comes  to  make  our  first  trip  in  search  of  a 
real  live  Boche,  we  ought  to  feel  able  to  give  him  some 
sort  of  a  run  for  his  money.  Here's  hoping  that  my 
first  adversary  is  a  young  pilot  like  myself.  Should 
hate  to  bump  into  a  German  ace  for  a  starter. 

Bergues,  July  29,  1917. 
Guynemer  came  back  from  his  sortie  last  night 
having  sent  one  more  Boche  to  his  happy  hunting 
grounds  in  flames.  This  wonderful  French  pilot  seems 
absolutely  untiring  and  his  skill  must  be  something  un- 
canny.   Approximately  50  Boche  officially  means  about 

*  Soci6t6  Pour  rAviation  et  ses  Derives. 


44  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

75  machines  brought  down  altogether,  and  as  most  of 
his  victims  have  been  two-seaters,  this  represents  I 
suppose  something  like  125  German  pilots  and  ma- 
chine gunners,  observers,  etc.,  disposed  of  by  one 
Frenchman.  You  can  imagine  how  much  nerve,  skill 
and  endurance  it  takes  to  accomplish  this  feat  and  live 
to  tell  the  tale.  I  was  much  surprised  when  I  saw 
him  for  the  first  time.    He  is  small  and  very  slight, 

more  like  cousin  T than  anyone  else  I  can  think  of 

whom  we  know,  indeed  he  looks  something  like  him. 
He  is  22  years  old  and  without  question  the  greatest 
individual  fighter  this  war  has  produced.  There  are 
many  things  about  him  which  I  should  like  to  tell  you 
but  which  I  am  at  present  forbidden  to  talk  about  and 
which  will  therefore  have  to  wait  until  later  on  when 
they  are  still  interesting  but  no  longer  of  military  im- 
portance. 

It  is  quite  a  sight  to  see  a  bunch  of  the  "Storks"  start- 
ing off  at  crack  of  dawn  for  a  flight  over  the  lines,  or 
to  see  them  coming  home  to  roost  at  dusk.  One  sees 
here  probably  the  finest  flying  in  the  world  and  it  will 
be  a  great  advantage  to  us  young  ones,  who  as  yet  are 
not  real  pilots  by  a  long  shot,  to  be  able  to  watch  these 
men  work  who  really  know  the  game.  One  is  naturally 
anxious  to  get  started,  but  I  shall  take  your  advice  and 
go  easy  until  I  feel  able  to  take  care  of  myself.  As  you 
say,  rashness  only  results  in  throwing  yourself  away  to 
no  purpose  and  foolhardiness  is  certainly  no  essential 
of  bravery.  As  far  as  one  can  discover,  the  most 
successful  men  have  been  those  who  have  known  when 
not  to  sail  in  and  take  too  great  chances. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  45 

Bergues,  July  30, 1917. 
Our  machines  have  not  yet  arrived  and  we  shall 
probably  have  to  wait  some  httle  time  longer,  so 
Chadwick  and  I  have  as  yet  done  no  flying  since  reach- 
ing the  front.  There  is  however  plenty  to  do  in  the 
way  of  studying  so  the  time  does  not  hang  heavily  on 
our  hands.  There  are  maps  of  the  locality  to  learn, 
types  of  Boche  machines  to  familiarize  oneself  with  and 
all  kinds  of  things  Hke  this  to  keep  one  fully  occupied. 
It  is  however  irritating  to  be  so  near  the  scene  of  action 
and  yet  so  far.  When  I  was  in  the  schools  I  used  to 
think  that  I  would  wish  I  was  back  home  again  when 
the  time  came  to  go  out  over  the  lines.  Maybe  I  still 
shall  feel  that  way  and  my  present  enthusiasm  is 
merely  due  to  my  excessive  greenness.  Just  now, 
however,  with  the  big  guns  roaring  all  day  and  all 
night  in  the  distance  and  all  of  our  companions  in  the 
fray  except  a  few  of  us  new  ones  who  have  no  machines 
as  yet,  it  makes  you  wish  you  could  go  out  and  get 
in  it.  The  guns  sound  like  distant  thunder.  We  are 
too  far  away  to  hear  any  but  the  big  ones,  but  the  ex- 
plosions remind  me  more  than  anything  else  of  the 
noise  made  by  the  paddle  wheels  of  a  steamer  on  the 
river  on  a  quiet  evening.  You  know  how  they  sound 
in  the  distance  as  each  blade  hits  the  water.  The 
noise  of  the  guns  has  of  course  no  such  regular  time  as 
the  sound  of  the  paddle  wheels,  but  the  shots  are  I 
should  say,  considerably  closer  together  than  the  blows 
of  the  paddles  on  the  water.  Remember  that  this 
represents  only  the  big  guns  and  that  we  are  too  far 
away  to  hear  the  75's  at  all,  and  you  will  get  some  idea 
of  how  much  fun  the  Boches  are  having  at  the  other  end 
where  the  projectiles  are  falling  on  their  blessed  heads. 


46  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

We  are  very  comfortably  housed  here  in  a  big  tent 
and  ''everything  in  the  garden  is  lovely''  except  the 
mosquitoes,  which  are  quite  numerous  and  at  least 
three  times  the  size  of  Jersey's  best.  They  are  the 
first  I  have  struck  so  far  in  France,  but  they  are  making 
up  for  lost  time.  They  are  honestly  half  as  big  as 
what  we  call  a  mosquito  hawk  and  have  a  beak  like  a 
great  blue  heron.  The  first  one  I  saw  I  mistook  for 
one.  One  bit  me  on  the  right  eye-lid  the  first  night 
and  I  could  hardly  get  my  eye  open  in  the  morning. 
Then  another  one,  who  evidently  saw  me  and  had  his 
eye  for  symmetry  shocked  by  the  sight,  bit  me  on  the 
other  eye-lid  the  next  night,  so  that  yesterday  my  eyes 
about  matched.  Last  night  I  fooled  them  by  sleeping 
with  my  head  under  the  covers  and  to-day  my  visage 
does  not  quite  so  nearly  resemble  the  morning  after  a 
prize-fight. 

A  funny  thing  happened  here  a  couple  of  days  ago 
while  some  of  the  men  were  practising  bomb  dropping 
at  a  target  on  the  flying  field.  The  Spad  can  be  fitted 
to  carry  a  couple  of  small  twenty-pound  bombs  which 
are  dropped  from  a  low  altitude  on  troops  and  convoys 
on  the  roads  behind  the  enemy  lines.  The  bombs  in 
question  were  filled  simply  with  a  small  bursting  charge 
and  some  stuff  that  would  make  a  smoke,  so  that  the 
aviator  could  see  where  they  fell.  One  fellow  let  one 
go  from  about  3500  feet,  but  he  had  waited  too  long 
and  it  landed  on  a  road  within  six  feet  of  an  English 
''Tommy"  who  was  taking  a  quiet  stroll.  If  it  had 
ever  hit  him  it  would  have  pushed  him  out  of  sight. 
Everybody  thought  it  a  huge  joke  except  the 
"Tommy,"  who  was  bored  to  death  (or  almost)  and 
could  not  see  anything  funny  about  it.    It  is  amusing 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  47 

to  note  the  difference  in  the  popular  attitude  towards 
such  an  episode,  here  and  at  home.  With  us  the  result 
would  probably  have  been  a  law  suit  and  a  long  argu- 
ment on  the  legal  theory  of  injury  resulting  from 
fright  alone  without  physical  contact. 

You  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  my  commander, 
Commandant  Brocard,  seems  from  what  little  I  have 
seen  of  him,  to  be  the  finest  French  officer  I  have  yet 
met.  He  is  a  real  man  himself  and  takes  that  personal 
interest  in  the  welfare  and  ability  of  his  men,  which 
means  so  much.  It  is  quite  evident  that  he  means  his 
men  to  know  their  business  thoroughly  before  he  sends 
them  out. 

I  think  Aunt  K might  like  this  place.    My  tent 

is  in  a  field  next  to  some  farm  buildings  and  the  pasture 
is  full  of  horses,  cows,  and  three  or  four  big  fat  sows. 
The  latter  are  very  inquisitive  and  every  now  and  then 
try  to  come  in  and  pay  us  a  visit,  but  a  heavy  army 
shoe,  well  placed  in  the  spare  ribs,  generally  results  in 
indignant  grunts  and  a  hasty  withdrawal.  We  came 
in  one  day  to  find  them  all  asleep  in  our  tent.  One 
old  lady  had  her  head  in  my  suitcase  where  I  keep  my 
clean  linen.  She  had  first  pushed  open  the  Hd  and 
eaten  a  supply  of  chocolate  I  had  secreted  there.  My 
laundry  bill  the  following  week  amounted  to  twelve 
francs.  We  also  have  a  large  supply  of  dogs  who  travel 
with  us.  Five  fat  puppies  run  about  the  kitchen- 
dining-room  tent  and  lick  the  plates  and  pots  and  pans. 
One  is  called  ^'Spad''  and  another '' Contact,"  the  latter 
being  the  French  expression  meaning  ^Hhrow  on  the 
switch  of  a  motor."  The  other  names  I  have  not  yet 
mastered. 

At  each  advance  in  my  training  the  food  has  im- 


48  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

proved  until  here  it  is  first  rate.  As  for  my  health,  it 
has  never  been  better,  and  my  spirits  are  excellent. 
The  work  is  interesting  and  I  try  to  make  it  a  rule  to 
do  little  thinking  about  what  I  might  be  doing  if  it 
were  not  for  this  damn  war.  Do  not  worry  if  my  letters 
are  irregular  as  the  censorship  is  now  severe  and  will, 
I  fear,  subject  the  mails  to  long  delays. 

Bergues,  August  10, 1917. 

Have  at  last  had  a  couple  of  flights  over  the  lines 
and  will  try  to  tell  you  something  about  it,  but  in  such 
general  terms  that  the  censor  will  not  object.  After 
almost  incessant  rain,  fog,  and  very  low  clouds  for  ten 
days,  it  has  finally  cleared  up  enough  in  the  last  two 
days  to  allow  the  machines  to  go  out  for  at  least  a  part 
of  each  day.  Yesterday  morning  I  had  my  first  trip 
out  over  the  Boche  lines  and  as  the  patrol  of  which  I 
was  a  part,  was  quite  a  low  one,  I  could  see  the  whole 
show  and  you  never  saw  such  a  mess  in  your  life.  At 
times  we  were  as  low  as  800  metres  and  on  our  way  home 
went  down  to  600  metres  over  the  artillery  where  we 
could  plainly  see  and  hear  the  guns  blazing  away. 
Higher  up,  one  can  see  the  gun  flashes,  but  the  noise 
of  one^s  motor  drowns  the  sound  of  the  shots. 

I  do  not  think  there  is  much  use  in  trying  to  describe 
what  the  battlefields  look  Hke.  They  beggar  descrip- 
tion, and  you  can  get  a  clearer  idea  from  the  pic- 
tures in  the  *' Illustrated  London  News.''  The  ground 
about  the  trenches  and  in  fact  the  country  for  several 
miles  on  each  side  of  the  lines,  reminds  me  more  of 
some  of  those  swamps  which  had  been  burnt  over  by  a 
forest  fire,  which  we  saw  on  the  way  in  to  the  Rangeley 
Lakes  in  Maine,  than  anything  else  I  can  think  of. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  49 

I  know  nothing  else  which  gives  an  idea  of  the  utter 
waste  and  destruction.  The  ground  itself  looks  much 
like  one  of  those  hard  lumps  you  sometimes  find  on  the 
river  shore  which  resemble  a  petrified  sponge,  or  per- 
haps a  piece  of  slag  from  an  iron  foundry,  or  again  a 
photograph  of  the  craters  on  the  moon.  For  miles 
the  shell  holes  are  so  close  that  they  merge,  and  the 
earth  is  chewed  up  until  the  surface  also  somewhat 
resembles  the  top  of  a  bowl  of  stiff  oatmeal.  Every 
little  village  and  farm  house  is  a  wreck,  the  roofs,  where 
any  are  left,  are  full  of  shell  holes;  but  a  few  fragments 
of  walls  represent  what  is  left  of  most  of  them.  Some 
of  the  larger  towns  are  just  a  dark  smudge  with  a 
gutted  ruin  sticking  up  here  and  there. 

This  morning  I  went  out  on  a  patrol  at  dayhght,  a 
couple  of  thousand  metres  up  this  time,  and  the  sight 
which  greeted  us  as  we  approached  the  lines  I  shall 
never  forget.  It  was  much  more  remarkable  than 
yesterday  from  a  spectacular  point  of  view.  The  sun 
was  not  yet  up  and  the  flashes  from  the  guns,  which 
you  can  see  even  in  broad  daylight,  were  very  brilliant 
in  the  early  dawn.  There  was  quite  a  lively  bombard- 
ment going  on  and  the  guns  made  me  think  of  the  fire- 
flies on  the  lawn  at  home  of  a  hot  summer  night,  and  I 
might  say  that  I  have  never  seen  the  fireflies  thicker. 
This  from  our  guns  behind  our  own  lines  and  the  Boche 
fireflies  at  work  further  on  but  not  so  numerous. 
Over  it  all  the  drifting  smoke  of  the  battle  and  above, 
all  the  way  from  1000  to  5000  metres,  flocks  of  planes 
circling  about.  Scattered  about  the  planes  the  little 
puffs  of  smoke  from  the  shells  of  the  anti-aircraft  guns 
of  each  side  shooting  at  the  other  fellows^  birds.  Some 
kilometres  behind  the  lines  on  each  side  a  row  of 


50  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

sausages,  as  the  observation  balloons  are  called,  float- 
ing lazily  at  the  ends  of  their  long  tethers.  Add  to 
this  the  sun  rising  on  one  side  and  the  moon  and  a 
couple  of  big  stars  fading  out  on  the  other,  and  you 
may  get^  some  kind  of  a  picture  of  what  we  see  here 
every  day. 

It  is  a  funny  sensation  to  sail  around  up  in  the  air 
and  watch  the  shells  bursting  around  you.  If  they 
are  anywhere  near,  which  they  generally  are  if  they  are 
meant  for  you,  the  noise  of  the  explosion  is  very  clear 
and  there  is  always  the  puff  of  smoke  to  show  you 
what  kind  of  a  shot  the  man  on  the  ground  is.  Bang, 
bang,  they  go,  sometimes  over,  sometimes  under  where 
you  hear  them  but  they  are  hard  to  see,  at  the  sides, 
behind  or  any  old  place.  Don't  get  the  idea  that  we 
are  surrounded  by  a  swarm  of  shells  however.  As  you 
pass  near  a  battery  they  may  let  go  two  or  three,  the 
next  time  perhaps  a  dozen  and  so  on  from  time  to 
time.  We  flew  about  over  a  given  sector  of  Boche 
territory  for  pretty  nearly  two  hours  yesterday  and 
something  over  an  hour  to-day,  acting  as  guards  for 
the  bigger  machines  which  take  the  pictures,  regulate 
the  artillery  fire,  etc.  Expect  to  go  out  again  later 
on  to-day  if  the  weather  permits,  which  I  doubt. 

The  Boche  gunners  are  pretty  good  when  you  con- 
sider the  terrific  speed  of  the  machines  and  that  they 
were  shooting  at  a  range  of  two  miles.  The  closest  that 
any  came  to  me  that  I  saw  was  about  150  yards,  but 
that  is  close  enough  to  suit  yours  truly.  Had  to  laugh 
at  Chadwick  when  we  came  in  yesterday.  He  said 
that  when  he  saw  the  first  shell  that  he  knew  was  meant 
for  him,  he  felt  quite  flattered  to  think  that  the  Boche 
should  have  at  last  taken  that  much  notice  that  he  was 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  61 

in  the  war  and  ''agin"  them.  As  for  me,  when  we 
are  dodging  around  up  there  in  the  sky  to  throw  the 
guns  off  their  range,  I  feel  hke  a  blooming  duck  on  the 
first  day  of  the  open  season,  and  there  are  many  other 
forms  of  flattery  which  I  should  prefer.  Chadwick 
hates  a  Boche  even  more  than  I  do  and  I  think  that  is 
going  pretty  strong.  The  more  one  sees  of  them  and 
of  their  work  the  more  convinced  one  becomes  that 
they  are  not  simply  a  nation  misled,  but  a  very  race 
of  devils. 

Bergues,  August  12, 1917. 

On  my  first  trip  out  over  the  lines,  some  Boche 
machine  gunner  or  rifleman  on  the  ground  amused 
himself  by  plugging  a  bullet  through  one  of  my  wings. 
Considering  that  we  were  never  under  800  metres  on 
this  sortie,  that  Fritzie  must  be  a  regular  Robin  Hood. 
Probably  it  was  just  a  lucky  shot  but  I'll  bet  that  fel- 
low used  to  shoot  ducks  before  the  war.  A  bullet  hole 
through  the  cloth  of  a  wing  practically  does  no  harm 
at  all,  and  the  mechanics  just  glue  a  little  patch  over 
it  when  you  come  home.  You  can  find  these  patches 
on  the  majority  of  the  machines. 

Since  writing  the  first  part  of  this  letter  I  have  had 
four  or  five  more  hours  over  the  lines.  This  morning 
I  was  down  as  low  as  five  hundred  metres  over  our  own 
trenches  and  got  a  wonderful  view  of  everything.  It 
is  a  beautiful  clear  day  and  one  could  see  the  individual 
soldiers  in  their  places.  Every  little  while  a  shell 
would  land  on  a  particular  spot  at  which  you  were 
looking  and  you  could  see  the  mud,  water,  and  smoke 
go  up  in  a  veritable  fountain.  A  little  further  back 
were  cannons  and  artillery  trains  moving  about  on 


52  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

the  roads.  It  is  remarkable  to  see  the  fields  cultivated 
right  up  to  the  blasted  area  and  many  of  them  with  a 
good  sprinkling  of  shell  holes.  There  is  one  town,* 
the  name  of  which  I  had  often  seen  in  the  communiques 
before  I  left  home,  which  lies  in  the  centre  of  the 
area  over  which  we  patrol.  It  was  I  suppose  half  the 
size  of  Andalusia  village,  but  like  all  little  French 
towns  the  houses  were  set  quite  close  together  as  in  a 
city.  This  place  appeared  on  my  map  and  although  I 
thought  I  had  the  spot  exactly  located  and  searched 
carefully  from  only  five  hundred  metres  above  it,  I 
could  find  no  trace  of  it.  I  asked  a  Frenchman  and 
he  explained  the  mystery  by  saying  that  it  had  been 
entirely  blown  off  the  map.  There  is  absolutely  no 
trace  of  it  left  that  can  be  distinguished  from  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Even  several  macadamized  roads 
which  ran  through  it,  are  blown  out  of  existence.  Since 
the  recent  heavy  rains  it  is  often  difficult  to  tell  a 
trench  line  from  a  brook,  and  every  shell  hole  is  full 
of  water.  The  ground  reminds  me  also  of  the  mud 
flat  next  to  the  wharf  at  Andalusia  after  we  boys  had 
been  throwing  a  lot  of  rocks  in  it.  The  poor  devils  in 
the  trenches  must  have  a  nice  comfortable  time  of  it. 

Julian  Biddle  arrived  yesterday  and  has  been  as- 
signed to  this  escadrille.  He  had  been  sent  to  another 
group  in  a  different  locality,  but  asked  to  be  sent  here 
so  as  to  be  with  me  and  they  granted  his  request.  I 
am  glad  he  got  here.    He  should  make  a  good  pilot. 

You  speak  about  the  time  when  I  shall  write  you  an 
account  of  my  first  fight.  That  will  probably  not  be 
for  some  time  to  come.  We  are  at  first  given  work 
which  is  least  likely  to  get  us  into  a  real  hot  aerial  battle 

*  Bixschoote. 


A  bad  smash. 

The  pilot  escaped  with  a  few  cuts  and  minus  a  few  teeth.    Wreck  of  an  Eng- 
lish Sopwith  Camel  scout-machine  at  St.  Pol-sur-Mer,  August,  1917. 


Spad  planes  of  Escadrille  N.  73. 

Lined  up  for  review  by  the  King  and  Queen  of  Belgium. 
August  13,  1917. 


Bergues,  France, 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  53 

and  are  instructed  to  keep  out  of  them  as  much  as 
possible  for  the  time  being  until  we  become  more  pro- 
ficient and  accustomed  to  the  work.  Of  course  if  a 
comrade  was  attacked  and  having  trouble  one  could 
not  well  stand  around  and  watch  him  get  shot  up. 
Young  pilots  do  not  however  go  on  excursions  far  into 
the  Boche  territory  looking  for  trouble  the  way  some 
of  the  old  hands  do.  Practice  is  everything  in  this 
game  as  in  all  others  and  one  is  learning  something 
every  minute  spent  over  the  lines. 

Bergues,  August  13,  1917. 
Was  out  again  last  night  after  writing  and  again 
this  morning.  Nothing  much  out  of  the  ordinary 
except  that  the  Boche  anti-aircraft  guns  were  pretty 
active  this  morning.  I  watched  the  shells  bursting 
all  around  a  machine  about  half  a  mile  from  us  and  the 
pilot  doing  all  kinds  of  gyrations  to  throw  them  off. 
Just  about  that  time  a  couple  went  off  pretty  close  to 
me  and  as  I  noticed  they  had  my  altitude  exactly,  I  quit 
watching  the  other  fellow  and  started  doing  a  few  things 
on  my  own  account.  Last  evening  when  we  went  out 
about  six  o^clock,  one  of  those  black  summer  thunder 
showers  was  drifting  around.  There  was  a  lively 
bombardment  going  on  and  part  of  the  battle-field 
was  shrouded  in  semi-darkness.  The  flashes  of  the 
guns  stood  out  very  vividly  and  the  smoke,  mist  and 
drifting  rain  squalls  were  about  all  that  was  needed 
to  complete  my  idea  of  what  the  private  domains  of  Old 
Nick  probably  look  like. 

August  14,  1917. 

The  King  and  Queen  of  Belgium  received  us  here 
yesterday.     I  was  introduced  to  them  both  and  said 


54  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

a  few  words  to  the  King.  Will  write  you  all  about  it 
soon  but  not  now.  My  friend  Oliver  Chadwick  has 
evidently  just  been  killed.  We  are  not  absolutely 
sure  yet  but  there  is  practically  no  hope.  He  was  the 
best  of  them  all  and  we  have  been  together  all  the  time 
for  months.  I  had  come  to  know  him  better  than  I 
have  ever  known  any  other  man  and  he  was  as  fine  and 
fearless  a  Christian  gentleman  as  ever  Hved.  He  was 
apparently  shot  down  from  2000  metres  in  a  combat 
and  fell  inside  the  German  lines  over  the  little  de- 
stroyed town  I  have  described.  I  am  glad  he  died  with 
his  boots  on  as  he  wanted  to,  but  my  heart  is  sick  and 
I  cannot  write  you  about  it  till  later. 

St.  Pol-sur-Mer.*    August  21,  1917. 

Just  a  line  to  tell  you  that  I  am  well,  but  I  have  so 
many  letters  to  write  that  you  will  have  to  wait  until 
next  week  before  I  shall  be  able  to  write  you  fully. 
My  friend,  OUver  Chadwick,  was  killed  by  the  Boche 
on  Tuesday.  He  sailed  in  to  help  out  another  machine 
that  was  being  attacked  and  was  in  turn  attacked  from 
the  rear  by  two  other  machines.  At  least  this  is  what 
happened  as  far  as  we  can  learn.  We  are  not  even  sure 
that  the  machine  that  was  brought  down  in  this  manner 
was  Oliver's,  and  as  it  fell  in  the  Boche  lines  there  is 
no  way  of  verifying  it,  but  the  evidence  is  very  bad  and 
I  am  afraid  there  is  little  hope.  There  is  the  barest 
chance  that  he  may  be  a  prisoner,  but  it  is  very  slim. 

Then  on  the  18th  Julian  was  killed;  so  it  was  a  very 
bad  week  for  the  Americans  here.  I  am  terribly  sorry 
about  Julian  and  I  naturally  feel  his  loss  very  keenly 
for  we  were  always  very  good  friends  and  had  had  a  lot 

*  One  mile  west  of  Dunkirk. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  55 

of  fun  together  since  coming  to  France.  He  was  an 
excellent  pilot  in  the  schools  and  extremely  conscien- 
tious and  hard  working.  He  got  his  mihtary  license 
in  a  remarkably  short  time  and  sailed  through  all  the 
tests  without  the  slightest  mishap.  Once  he  had  had 
time  to  gain  a  little  experience  here  at  the  front  I  feel 
sure  that  he  would  have  done  very  well.  Julian  and 
Oliver  and  I  might  have  had  some  great  Boche  hunting 
expeditions  together  if  luck  had  not  broken  so  against 

them.     I  am  glad  to  say  that  M arrived  here  the 

day  after  Oliver  was  lost,  so  I  am  not  left  the  only 
American  in  the  escadrille. 

St.  Pol-sub-Mer.  August  24, 1917. 
Got  a  rainy  day  to-day  and  as  I  have  pretty  well 
caught  up  on  the  writing  I  told  you  I  had  to  do,  I  can 
now  drop  you  a  line  about  what  has  been  going  on 
recently.  On  August  13th  we  were  inspected  by  the 
King  and  Queen  of  Belgium.  We  all  got  dressed  up 
in  our  best  and  stood  at  attention  while  the  King 
conferred  some  Belgian  decorations  on  some  of  the  men 
for  bravery  and  the  work  they  had  done.  I  have  some 
pictures  of  Ohver,  Julian  and  myself  standing  in  the 
line  of  pilots  with  the  King  and  Queen  in  front  and  shall 
send  the  photos  along  as  soon  as  I  have  an  opportunity. 
The  commandant  stopped  in  front  of  us  and  introduced 
us  all  three  to  the  King  and  Queen.  You  see  we  are  the 
first  American  pilots  in  the  escadrille  and  therefore 
somewhat  of  a  curiosity  so  we  sometimes  receive  at- 
tention which  our  rank  would  not  ordinarily  entitle  us 
to.  Shook  hands  with  them  and  called  them  ''Sire" 
and  "Madame"  as  per  the  commandant's  previous 
instructions.    Had  a  few  words  with  King  Albert, 


56  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

who  said  he  is  hoping  for  great  things  when  America 
gets  her  forces  over  here.  Glad  to  say  he  spoke  Eng- 
Hsh  as  I  was  scared  to  death  lest  I  might  have  to  talk 
French  to  them.  Kings  and  telephones  get  my  goat 
when  it  comes  to  talking  French.  I  guess  Httle  WiUie 
is  some  pumpkins  hobnobbing  with  royalty  and  such, 
eh  what !  !  The  I^g  is  a  very  fine  looking  man  and 
the  Queen  is  most  attractive. 

The  next  morning,  the  14th,  Ohver  and  I  were  not 
scheduled  to  fly  until  the  afternoon,  but  as  we  were 
both  anxious  to  get  all  the  practice  possible,  we  went 
to  the  field  in  the  morning  in  the  hope  that  they  might 
need  an  extra  man.  A  patrol  was  just  going  out  and 
being  short  one  man  they  asked  OHver  to  fill  up.  I 
saw  him  off  and  was  a  little  disappointed  that  he  had 
gotten  the  job  instead  of  myself,  as  he  already  had  an 
hour  or  two  more  over  the  fines  than  I  had.  He  went 
out  with  three  Frenchmen  and  never  came  back.  They 
reported  that  at  about  9.45,  shortly  after  they  had 
reached  the  fines,  they  lost  track  of  Oliver  while  ma- 
noeuvring near  some  clouds.  Shortly  after  lunch  we 
received  a  telephone  message  that  the  infantry  had 
seen  a  machine  of  the  type  Ofiver  was  flying  shot  down 
in  the  course  of  a  combat  from  about  2000  metres  and 
fall  about  1200  metres  north  of  Bixschoote  on  a  place 
known  as  the  ''Ferme  Camot."  According  to  the 
report,  the  French  machine  went  to  the  assistance  of 
an  English  one  that  was  being  attacked  by  a  Boche, 
and  at  the  same  time  was  itself  attacked  from  the 
rear,  by  two  other  Boches.  The  French  machine  was 
''nettement  descendu"  *  as  they  say,  and  took  a  sheer 
fall  of  over  6000  feet  until  it  crashed  into  the  ground. 

*  Clearly  brought  down. 


p^ 

^vs^JSIM 

::mi^^^ 

--"% 

^  '■            ^          Si  ^' 

.        ... 

King  Albert  of  Belgium  decorating  aviators. 

In  the  group  are,  besides  the  King,  Lieutenant  Nungesser  (30  Huns),  Lieu- 
tenant de  La  Tour  (9  Huns),  Captain  Heurtaux  (21  Huns),  Major 
Borcard  (commanding  "  Groupe  de  Combat  12,"  French  aviation),  Berg- 
ues,  France,  August  13,  1917.  The  records  of  enemy  planes  brought 
down  are  as  of  the  date  of  the  picture. 


Queen  Elizabeth  of  Belgium  getting  out  of  French  plane. 

After  a  flight  at  Bergues,  France,  August  13,  1917.  In  the  group  are  Major 
Brocard,  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  Lieutenant  (then  Adjutant)  Rene  Fonclc, 
who  later  became  the  ace  of  all  the  aces. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  57 

I  had  hoped  against  hope  that  there  might  be  some 
mistake,  that  the  machine  was  merely  forced  to  land 
or  perhaps  that  it  was  not  OUver's  machine  at  all  and 
that  he  might  be  only  a  prisoner.  I  have  been  doing 
everything  I  could  think  of  to  get  all  the  detailed  in- 
formation possible  as  it  will  mean  so  much  to  his 
family  to  know  just  what  happened  and  whether  or 
not  he  is  really  dead.  The  commander  has  been  very 
kind  in  trying  to  help  me  to  collect  this  information, 
but  it  has  seemed  almost  impossible  to  trace  what  clues 
we  have.  Where  so  many  thousands  are  being  killed^ 
and  have  been  for  the  past  three  years,  a  dead  man, 
no  longer  able  to  help  in  the  fight,  is  nothing,  and  men 
busy  with  the  great  business  of  war  have  no  time  to 
spend  in  trying  to  find  one. 

Oliver  fell  between  the  fines  but  very  close  to  the 
German.  The  recent  French  advance  has  however  put 
the  spot  just  within  our  own  lines  and  I  wanted  to  go 
up  myself  and  have  a  look  but  it  seems  impossible. 
I  thought  perhaps  I  might  be  able  to  find  his  body  or 
the  machine  or  something.  Even  though  I  could  not 
do  this,  however,  my  efforts  seem  to  be  bearing  fruit 
and  there  seems  to  be  no  longer  any  doubt  that  the 
machine  was  Oliver's. 

To-day  I  received  a  photograph  of  the  machine 
taken  by  a  priest  attached  to  the  infantry,  and  also 
some  details  of  what  happened  when  the  machine  fell. 
It  seems  that  both  the  Boche  and  French  soldiers 
rushed  out  of  their  trenches  to  try  and  get  the  machine, 
and  a  fight  followed  in  which  both  were  forced  to  retire. 
The  picture  was  taken  after  the  advance  a  day  or  so 
later  and  shows  a  tangled  mass  of  wreckage  and  beside  it 
the  dead  body  of  a  Boche.    No  trace  could  be  found  of 


58  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Oliver's  body,  but  this  is  easily  explained  by  the  fact 
that  pilots  often  have  papers  on  them  of  mihtary  im- 
portance and  his  body  would  therefore  have  been  taken 
and  searched.  This  would  have  been  easy  for  the 
Germans  to  do  at  night  as  the  machine  was  so  close 
to  their  front  line  trench.  I  am  now  trying  to  get  the 
number  of  the  fallen  machine  and  to  find  some  one  who 
actually  saw  it  fall.  I  think  then  we  shall  have  every- 
thing. What  chance  has  a  man  who  falls  like  that 
from  such  a  height?  I  have  seen  the  result  of  a  fall 
of  one  tenth  the  distance  or  less,  too  often  not  to  know. 
I  have  a  large  scale  map  showing  the  spot  where  he 
fell;  it  will  of  course  always  be  impossible  to  find  out 
where  he  is  buried. 

I  wish  you  could  have  known  OHver  Chadwick  as  I 
am  sure  he  would  have  appealed  to  you  as  he  did  to  me. 
He  was  the  kind  of  man  that  it  takes  generations  to 
make  and  then  you  only  get  them  once  in  a  thousand 
times.  A  man  with  a  great  deal  of  brains,  he  was  also 
a  very  hard  worker  and  had  learned  more  about  avia- 
tion and  made  himself  into  the  best  pilot  I  have  ever 
seen  for  one  of  his  experience.  He  was  one  of  the  very 
few  that  I  have  met  over  here  who  came  over  long  be- 

-^ore  America  entered  the  war,  simply  because  he  felt 
it  was  his  duty  to  fight  for  what  he  knew  was  right. 
That  was  why  he  was  fighting  and  what  he  was  fully 
prepared  to  die  for.    His  ideals  were  of  the  highest  and 

"he  was  morally  I  think  the  cleanest  man  I  have  ever 
known.  Physically  he  had  always  been  a  splendid 
athlete  and  was  a  particularly  fine  specimen.  Ab- 
solutely fearless  and  using  his  brains  every  minute, 
if  he  had  only  had  a  chance  to  really  get  started  and  to 
gain  a  little  more  experience,  he  should  have  developed 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  59 

into  the  best  of  them  all.  The  Boche  that  got  him 
certainly  did  a  good  job  from  their  point  of  view,  for 
if  he  had  Uved  long  enough  to  become  really  proficient, 
they  would  have  known  it  to  their  sorrow  and  I  doubt 
if  they  would  ever  have  gotten  him. 

We  were  in  the  Law  School  together  but  I  never  saw 
much  of  him  there,  as  we  lived  far  apart  and  had  a  dif- 
ferent set  of  friends.  Since  I  came  over  here  however 
and  went  to  the  aviation  schools,  we  had  been  almost 
constantly  together.  We  had  Hved  together,  eaten 
together,  flown  together  and  planned  all  our  work  to- 
gether. Always  a  gentleman  and  thinking  of  the  other 
fellow,  he  was  the  most  congenial  man  to  me  that  I 
had  ever  known.  I  had  come  to  regard  him  as  my 
best  friend  and  it  is  astonishing  how  well  you  can  get 
to  know  one  with  whom  you  work  in  this  business, 
whom  you  often  rely  on  for  your  hfe  and  who  you 
know  rehes  on  you  in  the  same  way.  There  is  nothing 
I  would  not  have  done  for  Oliver  Chadwick  and  I  know 
he  would  have  done  the  same  for  me.  He  was  the 
finest  man  of  his  age  that  it  has  ever  been  my  good 
fortune  to  meet  and  was  my  idea  of  what  a  gentleman 
should  be.  I  am  very  glad  to  have  known  him  and  I 
think  it  did  me  a  great  deal  of  good.  When  a  man  of 
this  rare  stamp  goes  down  almost  unnoticed,  it  seems, 
it  makes  one  appreciate  what  this  war  means.  To  me 
personally,  his  death  naturally  leaves  a  pretty  big  hole, 
but  I  am  glad  that  if  he  had  to  die  he  died  fighting  as 
he  wanted  to.  I  know  he  himself  never  expected  to 
survive  the  war,  but  his  only  fear  was  that  he  might 
be  killed  in  some  miserable  accident. 

He  was  a  great  favorite  with  all  the  instructors  both 
because  of  his  amiabiUty  and  because  they  could  not 


60  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

help  but  admire  his  skill  and  fearlessness.  The  com- 
mander here  regarded  him  as  one  of  the  most  courage- 
ous men  he  had  ever  had,  which  is  saying  a  great  deal 
in  this  organization.  One  of  the  officers  tried  to  tell 
me  that  Oliver  should  not  have  left  his  patrol  and  gone 
to  help  out  the  other  machine.  I  think  he  did  exactly 
what  he  should  have  done,  he  could  not  well  stand  by 
when  he  saw  a  comrade  in  trouble  and  leave  him  to 
shift  for  himself.  What  one  admires  in  a  man  more 
than  anything  else  is  the  doing  of  his  duty  regardless 
of  the  consequences  to  himself  and  this  was  Oliver  all 
over.  As  soon  as  I  heard  what  had  happened  I  felt 
sure  it  was  he.  My  great  regret  is  that  I  could  not 
have  been  on  the  same  patrol  as  we  usually  stuck  pretty 
close  together  and  might  have  been  able  to  help  one 
another  out. 

Had  an  interesting  experience  one  day  when  a 
French  barrage  fire  was  in  full  swing  in  preparation  for 
an  attack.  I  was  out  on  a  patrol  which  happened  to 
be  a  low  one,  and  my  leader,  a  lieutenant,  flew  entirely 
too  low  for  one's  comfort.  He  got  down  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  French  shells  and  in  a  barrage  fire  they  are 
pretty  thick.  Every  few  minutes  you  would  run  into 
the  eddy  caused  by  a  shell  and  your  machine  would  rock 
from  side  to  side  and  sometimes  turn  up  on  edge. 
Once  or  twice  they  came  close  enough  to  hear  them 
screech  above  the  roar  of  the  motor  and  the  machine 
felt  as  though  a  giant  had  taken  it  and  given  it  a  mild 
shaking  by  the  collar,  so  to  speak.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  we  could  have  done  better  work  flying  above  the 
trajectory  and  we  served  no  particular  purpose  being 
where  we  were.  We  were  still  too  high  to  fear  any 
fire  from  the  ground,  but  in  any  event  I  am  against 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  61 

taking  chances  where  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained. 
Seems  to  me  it  is  just  playing  into  the  other  fellow's 
hands  and  I  have  no  desire  to  start  unnecessarily  an 
argument  with  one  of  our  own  shells  in  mid-air.  On 
any  ordinary  day  shells  in  the  air,  other  than  anti- 
aircraft, are  not  thick  enough  to  bother  about. 

Another  time,  a  few  days  ago,  I  was  again  up  at  about 
16,000  feet,  when  an  oU  pipe  broke  and  let  all  the  oil 
run  out.  As  there  was  no  way  of  telling  this,  it  was 
only  a  few  minutes  until  my  motor  ''grilled.'*  That 
is  to  say,  the  bearings  burnt  out  and  she  stopped  as 
suddenly  and  completely  as  though  I  had  thrown  off 
the  switch.  As  I  was  on  the  Boche  side  of  the  lines  at 
the  time,  I  thought  I  had  better  start  hiking  for  my  own 
side  of  the  fence  ''toot  sweet."  Every  day  as  I  had 
been  flying  back  and  forth  from  the  lines,  I  had  amused 
myself  in  looking  for  allied  aviation  fields  so  that  in 
case  of  trouble  I  would  know  where  to  go,  if  I  could  not 
get  back  to  my  own  field.  A  small  fast  chasse  ma- 
chine is  a  hard  thing  to  land  without  upsetting  unless 
you  have  a  good  place  to  do  it  on,  and  this  is  es- 
pecially true  when  the  country  is  wet  and  full  of  shell 
holes.  I  therefore  bethought  me  of  a  field  near  a  cer- 
tain town*  which  I  knew  was  the  nearest  to  the  lines, 
although  I  had  never  been  there.  It  was  a  long  way 
off  and  I  did  not  think  I  should  be  able  to  reach  it, 
but  it  could  do  no  harm  to  try,  as  from  very  high  up 
one  cannot  make  out  a  suitable  place  to  land  anyhow. 
There  were  too  many  clouds  beneath  me  to  make  out 
the  town  very  well,  but  I  knew  the  general  direction 
and  started  planing  that  way.  When  I  got  through 
the  clouds  at  about  6000  feet  up  I  could  see  the  town 

*  Poperinghe,  five  miles  northwest  of  Ypres,  Belgium. 


62  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

and  soon  the  aviation  field.  Having  plenty  of  height 
it  was  easy  to  go  there  with  room  to  spare  and  I  landed 
without  further  trouble. 

A  motor  in  the  condition  of  mine  means  changing  it 
and  putting  in  another  so  there  was  nothing  for  it  but 
to  go  back  to  my  base  by  motor,  a  distance  of  some 
thirty  miles.  What  was  my  surprise  to  find  that  some 
of  our  Philadelphia  doctors  were  serving  at  a  field 
hospital  near  where  I  landed.  After  telephoning  to 
my  squadron,  I  went  over  to  see  them  and  found  Drs. 

P ,  M ,  D ,  and  V .     I  dined  with  them 

and  spent  the  night  and  we  discussed  the  affairs  of 
the  nations  generally.  To-morrow  I  expect  to  go  back 
and  fly  the  machine  home  as  the  mechanics  now  have 
it  in  shape. 

Dr.  P told  me  that  the  Boche  had  bombed  the 

hospital  two  out  of  the  last  three  evenings.  At  first 
they  thought  it  was  a  mistake,  but  when  they  kept  it 
up  it  became  apparent  that  there  was  no  mistake.  This 
is  a  big  field  hospital  in  white  tents  and  lots  of  red 
crosses  plainly  visible.  I  have  myself  seen  it  from  the 
air  and  you  can  see  it  more  distinctly  than  anything 
else  in  the  neighborhood.  A  couple  of  days  before,  a 
bomb  had  landed  on  a  cook  shack  about  twenty  yards 

from  Dr.  P 's  tent.  The  cook^s  leg  came  through  the 

roof  of  the  tent  next  door  and  the  guy-ropes  of  Dr. 

P 's  tent  were  decorated  with  his  entrails.     Nice 

party  don't  you  think?    Another  bomb  landed  right 

alongside  of  the  tent  occupied  by  D and  V . 

Luckily  they  had  just  answered  a  special  call  to  operate 
that  night  and  were  not  in  their  tent.  A  piece  of  bomb 
went  through  one  of  their  pillows  where  one  or  the 
other,  I  have  forgotten  which,  had  just  been  sleeping. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73                      63 
Their  clothes  were  blown  all  over  the  lot  and  D 


exhibited  numerous  holes  in  the  seat  of  his  pants. 
Luckily  he  had  not  been  in  them  at  the  time. 

We  stood  around  after  supper  at  the  time  when 
brother  Boche  usually  came  along  and  waited  for  him 
to  put  in  an  appearance.  We  had  not  long  to  wait. 
Pretty  soon  we  could  hear  his  motors  humming  up  in 
the  sky  and  dozens  of  searchlights  began  to  look  for 
him.  They  picked  up  one  of  the  raiders  and  the  show 
beat  any  Fourth  of  July  celebration  you  ever  saw.  The 
machine  showed  clear  and  white  in  the  glare  of  the 
searchlights.  It  was  a  dark  night  but  very  clear,  with 
miUions  of  stars.  On  every  side  were  the  muzzle 
flashes  of  the  anti-aircraft  guns,  the  sky  was  filled  with 
the  flashes  of  the  bursting  shells,  and  the  two  seemingly 
joined  by  streams  of  tracer  bullets  from  machine  guns. 
These  latter  look  much  like  Roman  candles  except 
that  they  go  much  faster  and  keep  on  going  up  for 
thousands  of  feet  instead  of  stopping  short  like  the  ball 
from  a  candle.  Add  to  this  the  roar  of  the  guns  and 
bursting  shells  and  you  can  imagine  what  a  quiet  eve- 
ning in  a  field  hospital  back  of  the  front  is  like.  The 
one  Boche  that  we  could  see  was  driven  off,  but  pretty 
soon  we  could  hear  others  coming  and  this  time  so 
high  up  that  the  searchlights  could  not  find  them. 
As  we  stood  there  Hstening  the  sound  of  the  motors 
seemed  to  have  almost  passed  over  us,  when  suddenly 
siz-bang-bang,  and  five  or  six  bombs  landed  plumb  in 
the  camp.  We  threw  ourselves  flat  for  a  moment  and 
then  went  to  see  what  had  happened.  You  could 
hear  cries  coming  from  the  direction  where  the  bombs 
had  fallen  and  the  air  was  filled  with  dust  and  smoke. 
One  bomb  which  fell  within  about  seventy-five  yards 


64  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

of  us  killed  three  men  and  wounded  about  six.  Another 
lit  right  in  a  ward, — imagine  the  effect  when  it  was  full 
of  wounded  soldiers.  The  casualties  in  all  amounted 
to  about  34  killed  and  125  wounded.  The  camp 
consists  of  four  field  hospitals  joined  together.  Fifty 
per  cent  of  the  staff  of  one  of  the  hospitals  was  knocked 
out.  I  enclose  you  two  clippings  describing  similar 
atrocities.  The  one  described  in  the  clipping  headed 
''The  New  Frightfulness"  happened  not  far  from  here 
and  I  know  it  is  true.  Don^t  let  any  one  tell  you  that 
these  things  are  mistakes.  You  can't  bomb  a  hospital 
three  times  in  four  days  and  then  put  in  an  alibi  about 
a  mistake.  The  clipping  entitled  ''Do  we  hate 
enough?"  seems  to  me  to  just  about  hit  the  nail  on 
the  head  except  for  the  mention  of  a  possibihty  of  ever 
again  being  friends  with  the  Boehes.  They  are  be- 
yond the  pale  of  a  decent  man's  friendship  and  should 
be  considered  as  a  race  with  which  no  Christian  should 
have  anything  to  do.  I  am  frank  to  say  that  I  am  look- 
ing forward  to  the  day  when  I  shall,  I  hope,  kill  some 
of  them,  for  I  hate  them  as  I  would  a  snake  and  would 
kill  them  with  as  little  compunction.  They  have  not 
even  the  excuse  of  the  ordinary  murderer  ^.  e.  that  he 
was  not  decently  brought  up  and  did  not  know  any 
better.  It  goes  without  saying  that  in  speaking  of  the 
Huns  I  am  always  speaking  of  the  German  people  who, 
individually  and  as  a  nation,  are  responsible  for  this 
war  and  whom  we  are  fighting,  and  not  at  all  of  loyal 
Allied  or  American  citizens  of  German  birth  or  descent. 
I  forgot  to  add  that  one  of  the  nurses  lost  an  eye,  and 
you  have  of  course  seen  in  the  papers  the  case  of  the 
"Belgian  Prince,"  where  a  submarine  commander 
deliberately  took  the  Ufe  belts  away  from  38  English 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  65 

seamen  and  then  drowned  them  in  cold  blood.  Shoot- 
ing is  too  good  for  people  of  this  sort.  I  have  no 
particular  malice  against  the  Boches  because  they  killed 
Chadwick  as  that  was  in  a  fair  fight,  as  fights  go  out 
here.  Except  for  the  rotten  explosive  bullets  that 
they  use  so  much,  they  seem  to  play  the  game  fairly*^ 
well  in  the  air  when  it  comes  to  a  combat.  What  they 
do  when  it  comes  to  hospitals  I  have  already  told  you. 

St.  Pol-sur-Mer.  September  4th,  1917. 
Have  been  trying  to  write  for  the  past  three  evenings 
but  it  has  been  necessary  to  put  the  lights  out  and  spend 
the  time  in  or  close  to  a  dug-out.  There  is  a  gorgeous 
moon  now,  just  right  for  night  bombardment  work 
and  the  Huns  have  been  making  the  most  of  it.  Every 
night  regularly  they  bomb  a  nearby  town,*  generally 
setting  it  on  fire  in  several  places.  Since  I  began  this 
letter  I  have  been  out  in  the  dug-out  and  there  is  a 
big  fire  raging  at  this  moment.  The  Boches  have 
dropped  about  fifteen  bombs  so  far  to-night  and  it  is 
quite  a  remarkable  sight  to  watch  them  hit.  The  in- 
cendiary ones  light  up  the  whole  sky  and  the  high  ex- 
plosives throw  a  huge  fountain  of  sparks  in  all  direc- 
tions. When  they  are  bombing  the  town  we  stand 
outside  and  watch  the  show,  but  when  they  come  our 
way  we  duck  down  our  hole  hke  a  lot  of  rabbits.  No 
one  but  a  fool  or  a  greenhorn  will  stand  around  and  get 
blown  up  just  for  the  sake  of  seeing  the  sights.  When 
you  add  the  searchlights,  anti-aircraft  guns,  bursting 
shells,  and  machine  guns,  to  the  fires  and  terrific  ex- 
plosions of  the  bombs,  you  have  about  all  your  eyes  and 
ears  can  take  in  at  one  time.    I  shall  never  again  I 

*  Dunkirk. 


66  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

think,  so  much  as  take  the  trouble  to  walk  around  the 
corner  to  watch  a  fire-works  display  on  the  4th  of  July. 

St.  Pol-sur-Mer,  Sept.  8,  1917. 

I  told  you  in  my  last  letter  to  Mother,  which  I  had 
to  cut  short,  that  I  had  my  first  fight  last  Sunday  morn- 
ing. It  did  not  amount  to  much,  but  it  was  a  satis- 
faction to  be  able  at  last  to  let  one's  gun  off  at  a  Bochei 
On  the  morning  in  question,  I  was  to  go  on  a  high  patrol 
but  my  motor  would  not  start  at  first  so  I  did  not  get 
off  until  fifteen  minutes  after  the  others  and  had  to 
go  out  to  the  lines  by  myself.  When  I  got  there  I  was 
still  quite  low,  between  2000  and  2500  metres  and  ran 
into  a  low  patrol  of  three  machines  from  our  escadrille. 
I  thought  they  might  possibly  be  my  own  crowd  and 
joined  them  for  a  moment  to  find  out.  Just  as  I  did 
so  I  saw  five  machines  coming  our  way  which  I  took 
for  another  AUied  patrol  starting  on  its  way  home.  The 
men  with  whom  I  was  were  all  pretty  green  (like  my- 
self) and  evidently  did  not  see  the  other  machines  at 
all.  They  worked  around  toward  our  rear  and  al- 
though I  still  thought  they  were  friends  I  did  not  like 
the  way  they  acted  and  kept  watching  them  over  my 
shoulder.  When  they  got  quite  close,  say  150  metres, 
I  suddenly  saw  the  leader  let  drive  at  one  of  our  men 
who  was  below  me  to  my  left.  You  can  plainly  see 
the  flash  of  a  machine  gun  and  the  explosive  bullets 
leave  long  streams  of  wavy  smoke  behind  them  in  the 
air.  In  a  big  scrap  where  there  is  a  lot  of  shooting 
the  long  hairs  of  smoke  left  by  the  bullets  sometimes 
make  the  planes  look  as  though  they  were  in  the  middle 
of  an  enormous  cobweb. 

The  man  who  was  shot  at  turned  suddenly  and  dove 


ESCADMLLE  N.  73  67 

to  get  out  of  the  way;  he  got  three  bullets  through  the 
tail  of  his  machine.  As  he  turned,  the  five  machines 
veered  and  I  saw  plainly  that  they  were  five  Boche 
single-seater  fighting  planes.  The  particular  type  very 
much  resembles  one  of  ours  and  the  cocardes  are  hard 
to  see  until  one  is  quite  close.  Our  other  two  machines 
kept  going  for  our  own  lines,  the  pilots  evidently  being 
taken  by  surprise  and  a  bit  mixed  up.  One  could  not 
very  well  go  off  and  leave  the  one  man  who  had  been 
shot  at  with  five  Boches  after  him,  so  I  turned  around 
short  and  flew  towards  them.  They  had  already 
veered  when  our  man  whom  they  shot  at  turned  toward 
them.  Three  of  them  went  down  and  two  went  up. 
The  three  that  went  down  wanted  to  go  after  our 
machine  that  had  gone  down,  but  I  think  they  were 
afraid  to  do  so  when  they  saw  me  above  them.  Our 
man  made  a  safe  get-away  anyhow.  I  had  a  lovely 
chance  to  dive  on  the  Boche  below  me,  but  every  time 
I  started  I  looked  at  the  two  above  and  they  would 
begin  to  do  the  same  thing  to  me.  It  is  pure  fool- 
hardiness  to  attack,  when  you  do  not  have  to,  with 
other  enemy  machines  close  above  your  head.  That 
was  the  way  OHver  was  killed,  but  he  had  to  go  in. 
The  five  Boches  kept  retreating  into  their  own  territory 
and  it  was  impossible  to  get  close  enough  to  really 
do  much  with  one's  shooting.  The  three  below  kept 
circling  about  close  together,  evidently  in  the  hope 
that  I  would  attack  and  give  the  two  above  their  chance. 
I  got  a  few  shots  at  one  of  them  but  he  was  three  hun- 
dred yards  off  and  you  can't  do  anything  more  than 
worry  a  machine  at  such  a  range  except  by  sheer  good 
luck.  I  then  tried  to  get  near  the  two  upper  ones,  but 
they  kept  hiking  for  home,  and  although  I  got  a  few 


68  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

more  long  shots,  I  had  to  turn  back  as  I  was  by  myself 
and  getting  too  far  into  the  Boche  territory,  perhaps 
three  or  four  miles  or  so.  On  my  way  back  the  Boche 
''Archies"  (anti-aircraft  guns)  tried  to  have  some  fun 
with  me,  but  did  not  come  close  enough  to  amount  to 
anything.  The  whole  thing  did  not  amount  to  more 
than  a  useful  experience  as  most  of  the  shooting  was 
too  far  off  to  have  any  effect. 

Was  out  on  Wednesday  morning  on  a  high  patrol 
and  had  a  couple  of  other  little  settos  from  which  I 
think  I  also  got  some  experience,  but  that  was  about 
all.  We  were  up  as  high  as  I  have  been  so  far,  about 
18,000  feet,  and  it  is  as  cold  as  Christmas  up  there. 
Dressed  warmly  however  you  do  not  feel  it  much,  ex- 
cept on  your  face,  and  I  have  now  got  something  to 
cover  most  of  that  up.  There  were  five  of  us  this  time 
and  at  about  16,000  feet  we  ran  across  three  or  four 
Boche  fighting  planes  who  were  a  little  below  us.  We 
manoeuvred  for  position  and  attacked.  I  picked  out 
one  fellow  and  went  for  him,  but  after  about  six  shots 
and  just  when  I  was  getting  close  enough  to  do  some 
business,  my  machine  gun  quit  owing  to  a  cartridge 
missing  fire.  I  tried  to  fix  it  at  once,  but  she  would 
not  fix.  Every  one  had  gotten  pretty  well  separated 
during  the  fight  and  as  there  was  one  Boche  above  me 
in  a  fine  position  to  attack  and  I  could  see  no  sign  of 
my  comrades,  I  started  hiking  for  our  side  of  the  fence 
as  fast  as  I  could  go.  On  the  way  I  passed  a  Boche 
within  a  hundred  yards  going  in  the  opposite  direction 
liked  a  scared  rabbit.  I  had  to  laugh  to  see  him  hump- 
ing his  machine  up  and  down  so  as  to  make  it  hard  to 
hit.  He  looked  for  all  the  world  like  a  hopping  rabbit 
and  I  guess  he  thought  I  was  going  to  take  a  crack  at 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  69 

him,  but  if  he  had  only  known  it  I  was  beating  it  for 
home  just  as  hard  as  he  was. 

As  soon  as  I  got  in  quieter  water  I  fixed  my  machine 
gun  and  began  looking  for  my  patrol.  I  had  not  been 
going  five  minutes  when  I  ran  bang  on  a  Boche  two- 
seater  all  by  itself.  I  was  afraid  to  start  shooting  when 
I  first  wanted  to  as  there  are  so  many  different  allied 
machines  that  it  is  very  hard  for  a  greenhorn  to  tell 
them  all  from  the  German.  I  thought  it  was  a  Boche, 
but  did  not  like  to  begin  shooting  until  I  was  absolutely 
sure,  so  waited  until  he  passed  under  my  wing  close 
enough  to  see  his  old  maltese  crosses  on  his  planes.  I 
then  turned  around  and  went  for  him  from  above,  which 
by  the  way,  is  a  fool  method  to  attack  a  two-seater, 
as  it  gives  the  machine  gunner,  who  sits  behind  the 
pilot,  a  beautiful  shot  at  you.  Usually  the  best  way 
to  do  it  is  to  get  under  his  tail  where  he  often  does  not 
see  you  and  can't  shoot  without  hitting  his  own  tail. 
I  guess  I  was  a  bit  too  anxious  however  and  spoiled  my 
own  chance.  I  could  see  the  machine  gunner  blazing 
away  and  could  not  get  to  close  quarters  without  giving 
him  a  much  better  chance  at  me  than  I  had  at  him. 
I  aimed  ahead  of  him  about  the  distance  that  I  thought 
was  right  and  gave  him  a  rip  from  my  machine  gun. 
I  could  see  the  tracer  bullets  and  they  looked  to  me  as 
though  I  hit  him,  but  I  could  not  be  sure.  At  all 
events  he  started  for  home  without  a  second's  hes- 
itation, full  motor  and  diving  sHghtly,  which  gives  al- 
most the  greatest  speed.  I  manoeuvred  a  little  and 
gave  it  to  him  again  and  I  hope  I  touched  him  up  for 
the  machine  gunner  seemed  to  me  to  stop  shooting.  I 
went  after  him  a  third  time,  this  time  from  behind  his 
tail  and  we  were  both  streaking  it  through  the  air  at  a 


70  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

scandalous  pace.  I  had  my  machine  nosed  down  a 
bit  and  going  full  out,  was  overhauHng  him  and  had 
just  begun  to  shoot  again  when  my  machine  gun 
jammed,  this  time  from  a  broken  cartridge  and  so 
that  it  was  impossible  to  fix  it  in  the  air.  We  had  been 
going  for  the  Hun  territory  all  the  time,  so  that  we 
were  by  this  time  several  miles  behind  the  German 
lines.  With  my  machine  gun  out  of  commission  there 
was  of  course  nothing  to  do  but  go  home.  Since  that 
time  we  have  been  having  poor  weather  again  and  I 
have  not  been  over  the  lines. 

I  certainly  hope  I  can  become  skilful  enough  before 
long  to  drop  one  of  these  fellows  good  and  proper  as 
the  saying  is.  My  chance  at  the  two-seater  was  badly 
handled,  as  I  had  to  do  my  shooting  at  about  200  yards, 
and  this  is  entirely  too  far.  The  great  majority  of 
successful  fights,  practically  all  of  them  in  fact,  are 
fought  from  100  to  10  yards.  You  must  remember  the 
terrific  speeds  of  the  machines,  the  fact  that  we  have  to 
point  our  whole  machine,  and  the  great  distances  cov- 
ered in  a  few  seconds,  in  order  to  understand  why  patrol 
formations  get  broken  up  in  a  fight  and  why  there  is 
so  much  shooting  without  result.  Also,  when  it  is  one 
machine  against  another,  if  one  fellow  sees  the  other 
coming  a  good  way  off  and  wants  to  get  away,  he  can 
usually  do  it.  It  takes  so  little  time  to  cover  several 
miles,  and  a  skilfully  manoeuvred  machine  is  very 
hard  to  hit  anyhow.  The  majority  of  successful  com- 
bats are  cases  of  surprise,  where  you  sneak  up  close 
behind  another  machine  without  his  seeing  you  or 
where  he  is  busy  attacking  still  another  machine,  and 
you  can  drop  on  his  rear  unawares.  There  are  ex- 
ceptions, of  course,  but  most  fights  seem  to  be  like 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  71 

this.  Of  course  if  a  number  of  machines  attack  one  of 
the  enemy,  they  can  often  on  account  of  their  num- 
bers get  him  whether  he  sees  them  or  not  and  no 
matter  how  hard  he  tries  to  get  away.  I  think  I 
could  do  a  lot  better  with  that  two-seater  another  time, 
but  a  little  experience  like  this  is  I  guess  the  only  way 
to  learn. 

It  would  be  utterly  impossible  for  the  one  man  in 
a  chasse  machine  to  use  a  movable  gun  fired  from  the 
shoulder.  There  is  no  place  where  you  could  carry 
such  a  gun  and  you  would  not  have  room  to  use  it  if 
you  could  carry  it.  In  our  small  planes,  of  which  the 
greatest  assets  are  speed  and  manageability,  there  is 
just  room  for  the  pilot  and  no  more.  He  is  entirely 
encased  with  nothing  but  his  head  sticking  out  and  in 
addition  is  tightly  strapped  in  his  seat  with  straps 
coming  up  between  his  legs  and  over  his  shoulders. 
This  precaution  is  both  necessary  and  important  for  in 
the  rush  of  a  close  encounter  one  will  do  things  that 
would  otherwise  throw  the  pilot  around  inside  the 
machine  and  possibly  out  of  it. 

There  is  not  much  news  to  tell  you  about  this  week 
as  my  work  has  been  very  quiet,  due  largely  to  the  flying 
having  been  considerably  interfered  with  by  more  bad 
weather.  We  have  however  had  some  clear  nights  and 
the  Boches  have  been  doing  their  best  to  make  things 
lively  by  dropping  a  few  bombs  around.  I  have 
already  told  you  what  a  night  bombardment  looks  like 
and  also  of  the  wonderful  sight  presented  by  the  de- 
fense against  it.  It  is  all  very  well  to  watch  three  or 
four  times,  but  when  they  keep  it  up  night  after  night 
so  that  you  have  to  put  the  Hghts  out  and  stay  near  a 
dugout  just  when  you  want  to  do  some  writing  or  go 


72  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

to  bed,  it  becomes  nothing  but  a  nuisance  and  a 
bore. 

Most  of  the  bombs  dropped  near  here  have  been 
aimed  at  the  town,  but  now  and  then  the  Boches  seem 
to  take  a  shot  at  us.  At  all  events,  one  night  in  the 
early  part  of  this  week,  they  dropped  one  about  ten  or 
fifteen  feet  from  the  side  of  our  barracks  and  they  sure 
did  muss  it  up  good  and  proper.  We  had  gotten  our 
room  all  nicely  fixed  up,  but  that  bomb  wrecked  the 

whole  works.    M and  I  had  bought  ourselves  a  set 

of  tea  things,  cups,  saucers  and  plates,  etc.,  so  that  we 
could  make  ourselves  tea  in  the  afternoon  and  have 
oatmeal,  eggs,  etc.,  in  the  morning.  Everything  went 
in  one  grand  smash,  including  the  tar  paper  walls  and 
ceiUng  to  our  room.  You  never  saw  a  prettier  mess 
or  a  more  complete  wreck  than  our  room  appeared  to 
be  when  we  came  groping  in  in  the  dark  after  the 
Boches  had  gone.  We  were,  however,  lucky  that  our 
room  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  building  from 
that  on  which  the  bomb  fell. 

Some  of  the  men  opposite  us  were  much  worse  off 
as  the  explosion  pushed  in  their  side  of  the  building 
and  tore  parts  of  the  roof  off  over  their  heads.  The 
hole  the  bomb  made  in  the  ground  was  about  four  feet 
deep  by  about  twelve  across.  Right  close  by  stood 
our  cook  shack,  but  after  the  smoke  had  cleared  away 
it  was  hard  to  recognize.  I  have  taken  some  pictures 
and  will  send  them  along  when  they  are  developed  and 
I  think  they  will  show  you  what  happened  much  better 

than  I  can  describe  it.    M and  I  had  gone  to  a 

shelter  some  little  distance  away  where  we  could  be 
pretty  safe  and  at  the  same  time  see  what  was  going 
on.    When  this  particular  bomb  landed  I  said  I  thought 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  73 

it  looked  very  close  to  our  barracks  and  that  we  would 
have  the  laugh  on  the  Boches  if  we  went  back  and 
found  that  they  had  blown  our  room  up  when  we  were 
not  there.  We  went  to  look  after  everything  was 
comparatively  quiet  and  sure  enough  our  room  had 
been  blown  up,  but  I  am  not  so  sure  that  the  joke  was 
all  on  the  Boches.  However,  the  bomb  was  not  close 
enough  to  hurt  any  of  our  things  except  the  plates, 
and  after  a  couple  of  days'  hard  work  we  are  now  much 
better  and  more  comfortably  installed  than  we  were 
before. 

They  did  seem  to  have  it  in  for  us  that  night  though, 
as  another  bomb  dropped  in  a  village  at  least  a  mile 
away,  right  on  the  house  of  the  good  woman  to  whom 
we  send  our  laundry,  incidentally  blowing  the  week's 
wash  literally  to  shreds.  Pieces  of  the  bomb  which 
dropped  ^'chez  nous"  went  right  through  the  barracks 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  in  places  fairly  riddling  it. 
Luckily  everyone  was  in  the  shelters  and  not  a  soul  was 
so  much  as  scratched.  Come  to  think  of  it  the  total 
casualties  were  one  dog.  He  was  asleep  in  his  kennel 
in  a  tent  and  a  piece  of  bomb  came  through  the  side 
of  the  tent,  through  the  side  of  the  wooden  kennel, 
through  the  poor  hound,  out  through  the  other  side 
of  the  kennel,  and  where  it  went  after  that  is  hard 
to  say. 

I  enclose  you  a  snapshot  of  myself  in  flying  togs 
standing  in  front  of  my  machine  and  have  cut  it  down 
until  I  do  not  think  the  censor  can  possibly  object. 
Pretty  good  of  me  don't  you  think  but  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  discover  I  am  certain  that  I  am  of  no 
''miHtary  importance." 


74  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

St.  Pol-sur-Mer,  Sept.  16th,  1917. 

You  will  have  seen  in  the  papers  long  before  you  get 
this  letter,  that  Capt.  Guynemer,  the  greatest  of  them 
all,  is  gone.  He  and  another  officer  went  out  on  Tues- 
day morning  to  hunt  the  Hun.  They  were  flying  fairly 
high,  somewhere  around  16,000  feet  I  think,  and  Guyne- 
mer went  down  a  little  way  to  attack  a  two-seater  while 
the  lieutenant  who  was  with  him  stayed  up  to  protect 
his  rear.  About  that  time  eight  Boche  single-seater 
machines  put  in  an  appearance  and  the  lieutenant  was 
kept  busy  trying  to  worry  them  and  keep  them  from 
going  down  on  the  captain.  He  succeeded  and  none 
of  the  Boches  dove  down,  but  in  the  general  mix-up  he 
lost  track  of  Guynemer  and  he  has  not  been  heard  from 
since.  He  must  have  fallen  in  the  Boche  lines  and  I 
am  afraid  he  was  killed  without  much  question.  The 
place  where  the  fight  occurred  was  over  the  Boche 
territory,  but  close  enough  to  our  lines  to  have  allowed 
Guynemer  to  have  reached  them  if  he  had  been  merely 
wounded.  Also,  if  the  Huns  had  taken  him  prisoner, 
we  would  certainly  have  heard  of  it  before  now.  They 
would  be  proud  to  get  him  and  I  am  surprised  that 
they  have  as  yet  made  no  announcement  of  his  having 
been  found. 

The  loss  of  this  man  is  very  great,  as  he  was  by  all 
odds  the  greatest  aviator  and  individual  fighter  the 
war  has  produced.  I  am  awfully  sorry,  for  if  ever  a 
man  had  won  his  spurs  and  deserved  to  live  it  was  Capt. 
Guynemer.  He  had  53  Hun  machines  to  his  credit 
officially  and  I  hoped  that  he  had  become  so  skilful 
that  he  would  never  be  killed.  As  I  have  already 
written  you,  he  was  small  and  of  a  frail  appearance. 
I  believe  his  health  was  very  far  from  good  and  the 


Captain  Guynemer  about  to  start  on  the  last  flight  from  which 
he  ever  returned. 

He  came  back  with  his  machine  badly  shot  up.    On  his  next  flight,  he 
was  killed  and  fell  near  Poelkapelle,  Belgium,  September  11,  1917. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  75 

high  altitudes  sometimes  made  him  so  sick  he  had  to 
come  down.  He  would  fly  for  a  week  and  then  go 
away  for  a  rest,  as  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  stand 
any  more.  In  the  course  of  several  hundred  fights  he 
had  been  shot  down  seven  times  and  twice  wounded. 
To  keep  at  it  under  such  circumstances  and  after  all 
he  had  gone  through,  a  man's  heart  has  to  be  in  the 
right  place  and  no  mistake.  He  certainly  deserved  to 
live  the  rest  of  his  days  in  peace  and  one  hates  to  see 
a  man  like  that  get  it.  The  evening  before  he  disap- 
peared, I  was  standing  on  the  field  when  he  landed  with 
a  dead  motor  caused  by  a  bullet  in  it.  There  were 
three  others  through  his  wings.  He  had  attacked  an- 
other two-seater,  something  went  wrong  with  his  motor 
at  the  crucial  moment  and  this  gave  the  Boche  a  good 
shot  at  him  and  spoiled  his  own  chance  of  bringing 
down  his  opponent.  A  little  episode  like  this,  how- 
ever, rolled  off  his  back  Hke  water  off  a  duck,  perhaps  a 
little  too  easily  I  fear.  Long  immunity  breeds  a  con- 
tempt of  danger  which  is  probably  the  greatest  danger 
of  all.  Guynemer's  loss  naturally  throws  more  or  less 
of  a  gloom  over  everyone. 

It  is  clear  again  this  evening  so  I  am  going  to  close 
this  letter  before  I  have  to  start  for  a  dug-out.  We 
were  out  in  quest  of  the  elusive  Boche  this  afternoon  and 
got  up  as  high  as  I  have  yet  been,  between  nineteen 
and  twenty  thousand  feet,  but  had  no  luck.  Saw  a 
couple  of  them  but  they  were  above  us  and  by  the  time 
we  had  gotten  up  to  where  they  were  they  had  run  for 
home  while  we  were  still  too  far  away  to  catch  them. 
Reminds  me  of  the  old  days  when  I  used  to  chase  what 
you  were  wont  to  call  the  ^^invisible  duck.'' 


76  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

St.  Pol-sur-Mer,  Sept.  22,  1917. 
Father  in  his  last  letter  said  he  thought  having  a 
Hun  sneak  up  under  your  tail  would  be  a  great  danger 
and  he  is  quite  right.  Surprise  is  the  thing  to  try- 
to  spring  on  the  Boches  and  is  the  most  important  thing 
to  avoid  having  them  spring  on  you.  I  think  my  long 
training  in  looking  for  the  festive  duck  has  helped  me 
considerably,  as  spotting  a  machine  a  long  way  off 
in  the  air  comes  to  much  the  same  thing.  I  have  not 
been  caught  napping  yet  or  even  come  close  to  it  and 
hope  I  shall  not  be.  The  closest  I  have  been  was  one 
day  this  week  when  we  were  flying  just  beneath  some 
clouds.  Five  Huns  used  the  clouds  to  sneak  up  in 
our  rear  and  above  us,  and  I  know  I  did  not  see  them 
until  they  were  within  about  three  hundred  yards. 
There  were  four  of  us  on  the  patrol  and  one  of  our  men 
lagged  a  Httle  too  far  behind.  He  did  not  see  the 
Boches  until  just  as  a  couple  of  them  opened  fire  on 
him.  He  then  did  some  quick  manoeuvring  to  escape 
while  the  rest  of  us  tried  to  get  above  them  to  help 
him  out.  They  had  us  at  a  great  disadvantage  being 
several  hundred  feet  above.  In  the  meantime  our 
companion  was  in  a  difficult  position  with  several 
Huns  around  him  shooting  at  him  and  I  was  afraid 
they  were  going  to  get  him,  but  he  did  some  pretty  good 
manoeuvring,  making  himself  very  hard  to  hit  and  they 
never  even  touched  his  machine.  There  was  a  heavy 
gale  blowing  that  morning  toward  the  German  lines 
and  I  never  realized  before  how  far  one  could  travel 
in  a  short  time  under  such  conditions.  The  rest  of 
us  had  turned  and  chased  those  Huns  into  their  own 
lines  for  only  about  a  minute  I  think,  before  we  turned 
back.    There  was  a  solid  bank  of  clouds  above  us  at 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  77 

about  12,000  feet  and  a  lot  more  about  5000  feet  lower 
down.  I  lost  my  companions  in  a  cloud  and  not  being 
able  to  see  the  ground  had  to  fly  back  to  our  lines  by 
compass. 

It  is  a  funny  feeling  flying  along  in  clear  air  with 
clouds  both  above  and  below  you  and  we  do  not  often 
do  it  except  in  such  a  case  as  this,  for  one  quickly  loses 
one's  bearings  and  there  is  generally  no  purpose  to 
be  accomplished.  This  time,  however,  I  did  not  want 
to  come  down  below  the  lower  clouds  for  I  knew  I  was 
well  over  the  Boche  territory.  Once  or  twice  when  I 
passed  over  a  hole  so  that  I  could  see  and  be  seen  from 
the  ground,  the  Huns  would  let  go  an  anti-aircraft  shell 
or  two  but  they  could  not  see  me  well  enough  to  put 
them  close  enough  to  worry  about.  I  flew  by  the 
compass  for  about  ten  minutes  and  when  I  dropped 
down  within  sight  of  the  ground  was  only  just  over  our 
own  lines.  One  has  to  be  careful  of  a  heavy  wind  like 
this  and  we  have  had  a  great  deal  of  it,  always  toward 
the  Hun  lines.  It  is  a  great  handicap,  for  in  a  combat 
one  cannot  manoeuvre  without  being  quickly  carried 
into  the  enemy  territory  where  one  is  likely  to  be  soon 
much  outnumbered.  The  day  after  the  above  episode, 
I  was  trying  to  bag  a  Boche  and  got  mixed  up  with  a 
couple  of  them.  Four  of  us  were  out  on  patrol  and 
attacked  a  formation  of  six  Albatross  scouts.  There 
was  again  a  very  heavy  wind  blowing  into  the  German 
lines  and  in  chasing  a  Boche  I  was  carried  well  into  his 
territory  before  I  realized  it.  Just  as  I  was  getting 
close  enough  to  shoot  at  him  another  Hun  came  up 
and  then  suddenly  I  saw  five  more  coming  behind  him. 
We  were  all  on  the  same  level  and  I  did  not  like  the 
look  of  things  at  all,  so  turned  back  for  our  own  lines. 


78  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

The  two  nearest  Boches  got  on  my  tail,  one  at  about 
sixty  yards  range  and  the  other  at  perhaps  a  hundred, 
and  when  each  opened  up  with  his  two  machine  guns 
I  never  saw  so  many  explosive  bullets  in  my  life,  they 
seemed  to  me  to  be  going  by  in  regular  flocks. 

The  thing  to  have  done  under  ordinary  circumstances 
would  have  been  to  have  turned  and  fought  it  out  with 
the  two  Huns  who  were  shooting  at  me  or  at  least  to 
have  manoeuvred  with  them  until  a  better  opportunity 
of  getting  away  presented  itself.  In  this  case  however, 
to  have  turned  would  have  landed  me  in  the  middle 
of  all  seven  of  them  and  with  the  wind  carrying  us 
into  Hunland  I  would  have  been  out  of  luck.  The 
only  thing  to  do  therefore  was  to  keep  flying  for  home 
at  the  same  time  throwing  my  machine  around  so  as 
to  present  as  difficult  a  target  as  possible.  I  did 
things  I  never  knew  I  could  do  before  and  think  I  in- 
vented some  new  forms  of  acrobacy,  for  those  Huns 
scared  me  out  of  about  five  years'  growth.  Luckily  for 
me  one  of  the  Frenchmen  saw  that  I  was  in  trouble 
and  being  above  us  all  he  was  able  to  fly  in  over  the 
Huns  and  scared  them  off.  When  we  got  back  to  our 
field  after  the  flight  I  examined  my  machine  expecting 
to  find  about  a  dozen  holes  in  it.  Was  rather  dis- 
appointed not  to  find  any  so  I  guess  those  Boches 
must  have  been  very  poor  shots  or  more  probably  I 
am  just  very  green  and  thought  that  I  was  in  more 
trouble  than  I  really  was. 

I  have  explained  to  you  that  it  is  quite  a  job  to  get 
any  of  these  Huns  here,  but  with  a  little  luck  and  per- 
severance perhaps  we  may  have  one  of  them  fly  into 
some  of  the  bullets  that  we  strew  about.  Here's  hop- 
ing so  anyhow ! 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  79 

There  is  another  moon  now  and  we  have  been  ex- 
pecting more  bombs,  but  thanks  to  cloudy  nights  we 
have  been  left  in  peace.  By  day  we  swear  at  clouds 
and  by  night  we  bless  them.  Sometimes  they  are 
handy  in  daytime  also  as  for  instance  the  other  day 
when  I  was  in  the  Hun  territory  by  myself.  I  felt  quite 
safe,  for  with  clouds  above  and  below,  if  I  had  run  into 
too  many  enemy  machines,  a  cloud  affords  a  con- 
venient refuge  where  you  can  easily  lose  them. 

Bergues.  Oct.  3, 1917. 
The  sector  of  the  front  where  we  do  practically  all 
our  flying  runs  from  Dixmude  to  Ypres.  The  Belgians 
are  on  our  left  and  the  English  on  our  right  here.  As 
you  are  seeing  by  the  papers,  the  British  have  been 
giving  the  Huns  what  for  around  Ypres  and  I  hope 
we  can  keep  it  up  and  make  substantial  progress  be- 
fore the  bad  weather  sets  in.  It  has  been  much  im- 
proved lately.  When  we  fly  really  high  Ostend  is 
plainly  visible  and  I  often  think  of  the  days  that  you 
and  Mother  and  I  spent  there,  swimming,  going  to 
the  races,  etc.  Times  sure  have  changed !  Not  long 
ago  several  of  us  were  protecting  an  artillery  regulating 
machine  when  our  big  guns  were  trying  to  blow  up  the 
huge  Hun  gun  that  bombards  Dunkirk.  This  work 
was  nearer  the  sea  than  usual,  and  at  16,000  feet 
Ostend  looked  almost  as  though  you  could  drop  a 
stone  on  it.  It  is  interesting  when  this  big  Boche  gun 
bombards  at  night.  When  she  goes  off  our  men  signal 
it  in  from  near  the  lines,  they  blow  a  whistle  in  Dunkirk 
and  all  the  people  take  cover.  Between  one  and  two 
minutes  later  I  should  think,  the  shell  arrives  and  there 
is  an  explosion  which,  with  one  exception,  beats  any 


80  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

other  I  have  ever  heard.  After  that  you  can  hear  the 
crash  of  faUing  bricks  and  broken  houses. 

The  one  exception  I  mentioned,  was  when  our  camp 
was  bombed  again  about  ten  days  ago.  For  the 
second  time  in  ten  days  our  cook  shack  was  wiped 
out  and  my  room  wrecked  along  with  the  others.  It 
took  a  lot  of  time  to  fix  things  up  again,  not  to  mention 
being  a  great  nuisance.  This  time,  I  was  in  a  trench 
with  the  other  pilots  just  in  front  of  the  barracks.  The 
trench  had  been  prepared  for  such  occasions  and  it  cer- 
tainly came  in  handy.  Three  bombs  fell  close  to  us, 
of  which  one  was  about  thirty  yards  away  and  the 
other  fifteen  feet  from  the  corner  of  the  trench,  where 

M and  I  were.    It  bulged  in  the  side  of  the  trench, 

blew  our  hats  off  and  threw  dirt  all  over  us.  The  hole 
in  the  ground  was  about  four  feet  deep  by  about  ten 
or  twelve  across  and  needless  to  say  this  was  the  fellow 
that  broke  all  my  records  for  noise.  I  was  not  quite 
sure  for  a  few  seconds  whether  I  was  all  there  or  not. 
As  we  were  below  the  ground,  however,  it  never  trou- 
bled us  though  I  thought  it  had  about  caved  in  one 
of  my  ear  drums  for  a  while,  but  that  is  all  right  now. 

A  night  bombardment  is  a  fine  sight  to  watch  from 
a  safe  distance  but  when  you  are  yourself  the  target 
it  is  the  most  unpleasant  thing  I  have  yet  struck, 
especially  when  the  novelty  has  worn  off  and  you  know 
what  to  expect.  You  always  know  when  the  Huns 
are  coming  by  the  anti-aircraft  guns  and  the  peculiar 
sound  of  their  motors  humming  up  among  the  stars. 
When  these  motors  tell  you  they  are  almost  overhead 
it  is  time  to  lay  low  in  a  trench.  The  bombs  are 
usually  dropped  quite  close  together  in  groups  of  from 
four  to  eight  perhaps.    They  of  course  fall  in  the  line 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  81 

along  which  the  course  of  the  machine  carries  them. 
Suppose  the  first  one  falls  say  three  or  four  hundred 
yards  from  you  and  the  next  a  hundred  yards  closer. 
It  is  not  hard  to  judge  whether  you  are  approximately 
on  that  line  or  not.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  interval 
between  bombs  is  generally  fifty  yards  or  less.  When 
they  come  within  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  you  can 
hear  them  whistle  for  several  seconds  before  they 
strike,  and  they  all  sound  uncomfortably  close.  You 
just  squat  there  in  a  trench,  knowing  that  they  have 
got  your  line,  listening  to  the  oncoming  hiss  and  won- 
dering whether  the  next  one  is  going  to  only  fall  in 
the  trench  with  you  or  square  in  the  middle  of  your 
back.  If  it  comes  good  and  close  there  is  a  blinding 
flash,  a  deafening  explosion,  dirt  flies  all  over  you  and 
the  ground  rocks  under  your  feet.  The  nasty  part 
about  it  is  sitting  there  in  the  dark  wondering  whether 
the  next  one  is  going  to  blow  you  into  kingdom  come, 
and  being  perfectly  helpless  to  prevent  it.  It  gives 
you  an  idea  of  what  the  men  in  the  trenches  have  to 
face  constantly.  I  would  rather  take  my  chances 
in  the  air  with  a  Hun  any  day,  for  there  you  can  see 
your  danger  and  what  happens  depends  mostly  on 
your  own  skill.  The  danger  in  the  latter  case  is  much 
greater  comparatively  speaking,  but  is  not  half  so  un- 
pleasant. When  you  are  down  in  a  narrow  trench  the 
chances  of  a  bomb  falling  in  it  or  close  enough  to  it  to 
get  you  are  very  slight.  Some  of  the  shelters  are 
covered  and  protect  you  against  falHng  shrapnel  and 
fragments  of  your  own  shells,  but  I  rather  prefer  the 
open  trench.  If  a  big  bomb  fell  on  the  roof  of  the 
ordinary  shelter  it  would  I  think  bury  those  it  did  not 
kUl. 


82  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

The  next  day  we  moved  our  camp,  as  things  were 
getting  too  hot  for  comfort.  Now  we  can  lie  in  bed 
in  the  evening  and  watch  them  bomb  Dunkirk  and  be 
glad  we  are  not  there,  for  the  Huns  do  not  know  where 
our  camp  is  and  I  don't  think  they  will  be  able  to  spot 
it. 

Bergues,  Oct.  15, 1917. 
You  speak  about  the  value  of  constant  care  and  in 
this  you  certainly  hit  the  nail  on  the  head.  I  think 
the  motto  of  every  flyer  should  be  to  never  take  an 
unnecessary  chance  or  one  that  will  not  produce  some 
real  gain  if  successful.  Of  the  many  accidents  I  feel 
sure  that  at  least  ninety-five  per  cent  are  caused  by  the 
carelessness,  ignorance,  or  rashness  of  the  pilot  or  by 
his  faihng  to  use  his  head.  I  have  personally  seen  a 
painful  number  of  accidents  but  I  have  yet  to  see  one 
that  was  not  directly  due  to  one  of  these  causes. 
As  in  anything  else,  as  you  become  familiar  with  avia- 
tion and  your  machine,  there  is  a  natural  tendency  to 
relax  and  let  your  attention  wander.  To  be  able  to 
relax  is  important  or  a  pilot  would  never  be  much  good 
and  would  soon  wear  out,  but  pipe-dreaming  and  care- 
lessness when  near  the  ground  or  over  the  lines  is 
bound  to  be  fatal  sooner  or  later.  If  you  are  where 
there  are  no  Huns  and  have  a  couple  of  thousand  feet 
under  you,  you  can  go  to  sleep  if  you  like,  for  when  the 
machine  begins  to  fall  you  will  wake  up  soon  enough 
and  in  the  modern  fighting  plane,  flopping  over  side- 
ways or  any  way  in  fact,  is  the  least  of  the  pilot's 
troubles.  He  does  it  every  day  on  purpose  to  accus- 
tom himself  to  his  machine  and  learn  what  it  will  do 
under  all  conditions.  The  cause  of  most  accidents  is 
carelessness  in  landing,  and  of  most  defeats  in  combat, 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  83 

the  failure  to  watch  the  rear.  This  last  is  easier  said 
than  done  for  when  a  man  is;  trying  to  kill  a  Hun  in 
front  of  him,  if  he  pays  too  much  attention  to  his  own 
rear,  his  attention  will  be  so  distracted  that  he  will 
never  succeed  in  getting  the  man  he  is  after. 

One  of  our  cracks  got  square  the  other  day  with  the 
man  who  is  reported  to  have  killed  Guynemer.  This 
German  was  a  captain  and  an  observer  in  a  two-seater. 
The  Boche  machine  had  flown  far  behind  our  lines  to 
take  pictures,  but  was  very  high,  over  twenty  thousand 
feet,  relying  largely  on  his  height  for  protection,  for  an 
ordinary  fighting  plane  will  not  go  that  high.  Our 
man,*  who  is  very  expert  and  has  been  a  pilot  for  a 
long  time,  was  in  a  particularly  powerful  machine  and 
was  the  only  one  who  saw  the  Boche  who  could  get  up 
to  him.  He  climbed  up  under  and  behind  his  tail. 
Every  time  the  Boche  pilot  would  try  to  turn  in  order 
to  give  his  gunner  a  shot,  the  Frenchman  would  slide 
around  also,  always  keeping  the  Hun^s  own  tail  be- 
tween himself  and  the  machine  gunner,  so  that  the 
latter  could  not  shoot  without  shooting  away  his  own 
controls.  In  this  manner  he  got  right  on  top  of  the 
Boche,  and  at  the  first  salvo  put  his  machine  gun  out 
of  business  and  probably  hit  the  gunner,  i.  e.  the  cap- 
tain who  is  credited  by  the  Huns  with  having  shot 
Guynemer.  After  that  there  was  nothing  to  it,  the 
second  dose  the  Frenchman  gave  him  cut  away  the 
supports  of  the  wings  on  one  side  so  that  they  came  out 
of  position.  The  Hun  flopped  over  on  his  back  and 
Guynemer's  supposed  slayer  fell  out  of  the  machine, 
taking  a  nice  Httle  tumble  of  twenty  thousand  feet. 

*  Captain  (then  Adjutant)  Ren4  Fonck,  the  ace  of  all  the  aces.  At 
this  time  he  had  about  fifteen  German  machines  to  his  credit.  At  the 
end  of  the  war  he  had  increased  his  official  record  to  seventy-five. 


84  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

The  machine  and  pilot  tumbled  end  over  end  and  as 
they  went  by,  a  number  of  other  French  machines  wait- 
ing below  who  had  not  been  able  to  get  up,  like  a  pack 
of  wolves  waiting  for  the  leader  to  bring  down  the 
game,  amused  themselves  taking  pot  shots  at  them. 
There  is  no  secret  about  a  small  fighting  plane  often 
not  being  able  to  get  up  quite  as  high  as  a  two-seater, 
which  although  slower  has  a  larger  wing  surface  and 
can  consequently  mount  better  where  the  air  is  thin 
and  gives  poor  support. 

Berques,  Oct.  16, 1917. 
To-day  I  was  not  listed  to  go  out  on  patrol  until  the 
afternoon  and  as  it  was  a  nice  morning,  persuaded  a 
Frenchman  to  go  out  with  me  on  a  ''voluntary  patrol" 
and  see  if  we  could  not  find  some  Huns.  Am  very 
glad  we  did  for  it  is  raining  this  afternoon  so  that  we 
could  not  work,  and  also  we  sure  did  find  the  Huns 
this  morning.  I  am  ashamed  of  myself  for  not  having 
brought  one  down  but  this  is  how  it  came  about.  We 
were  flying  along  at  about  16,000  feet  and  in  front  of 
us  a  rather  heavy  mist,  something  like  that  which  one 
sees  hanging  low  over  the  fields  on  an  autmnn  evening. 
I  was  the  leader  and  suddenly  saw  a  two-seater  machine 
come  out  of  the  mist  toward  me  and  perhaps  two 
hundred  yards  below.  At  first  I  thought  it  was  an 
Englishman  until  as  he  started  to  pass  under  me  I 
saw  his  black  maltese  crosses  and  the  pecuHar  shape 
of  his  wings.  I  thought  this  was  a  great  chance  and 
it  was  if  I  had  not  made  a  mess  of  it.  I  did  a  short 
turn  and  dove  down  full  speed  to  get  under  his  tail, 
and  the  manoeuvre  worked  out  very  nicely  for  it  landed 
me  behind  and  under  his  tail  where  he  could  neither  see 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  85 

nor  shoot  at  me,  the  machine  gunner  being  blinded  by 
his  own  tail  planes.  I  thought  at  the  time  that  he  could 
not  have  helped  but  see  me  when  I  dove  down  behind 
him  and  just  as  I  was  trying  to  lay  my  sights  on  him, 
the  machine  turned  a  little  as  though  the  pilot  were 
trying  to  get  into  a  position  where  his  gunner  could 
shoot.  I  was  only  about  seventy-five  yards  away  and 
I  thought  to  myself  that  if  there  was  to  be  some  shoot- 
ing I  should  be  the  one  to  start  it.  I  accordingly  blazed 
away  without  taking  careful  enough  aim  and  although 
I  hit  him,  for  I  could  see  the  luminous  bullets  plainly, 
I  did  not  get  him  in  a  vital  spot.  We  were  just  about 
over  the  lines  when  I  shot  and  the  Hun  started  for  home 
for  all  he  was  worth  with  Httle  Willie  after  him  and 
shooting  when  he  could,  but  a  wildly  zigzagging  ma- 
chine is  an  awfully  hard  thing  to  hit.  Not  perhaps  so 
hard  to  shoot  holes  through  the  wings,  but  the  vital 
spots  are  very  small.  I  chased  that  son  of  a  gun  about 
four  miles  into  his  own  country  until  I  saw  four  single- 
seater  fighting  planes  coming  up  to  his  assistance  and 
I  had  to  give  it  up.  My  companion  had  stayed  up  to 
protect  my  rear  from  four  other  Huns  who  appeared 
about  the  same  time  that  I  had  attacked  the  fifth,  and 
as  in  chasing  the  two-seater  I  had  come  down  some 
tliree  thousand  feet,  I  lost  track  of  him.  In  thinking 
this  fight  over  I  believe  that  Boche  never  knew  I  was 
there  until  I  started  to  shoot.  He  certainly  did  act 
surprised  then.  If  he  did  not  know  that  I  was  there, 
I  should  have  gotten  much  closer  and  aimed  carefully 
before  shooting  at  all.  The  tactics  of  practically  all 
successful  aerial  fighters  are  to  get  quickly  to  very  close 
quarters,  fifty  yards  and  often  less,  where  they  can 
fairly  riddle  the  other  fellow.    Also,  in  attacking  a  two- 


y 


86  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

seater,  the  closer  one  gets  the  safer  it  is,  for  it  is  easy 
to  see  that  he  will  have  to  make  a  much  greater  move- 
ment in  order  to  get  an  enemy  out  from  under  his  tail 
if  that  enemy  is  only  ten  yards  away,  than  if  he  is  a 
hundred  yards  away.  As  you  may  imagine,  the  diffi- 
culties of  aerial  shooting  are  very  great  and  if  you 
can  get  right  up  against  a  Hun  where  you  can  give  it 
to  him  point-blank  with  practically  no  correction  to 
make  for  his  speed,  your  task  is  much  simpHfied. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  about  ten  minutes  after  I  got  back 
to  my  own  lines  and  started  to  search  for  my  com- 
panion, I  looked  up  and  there  right  over  my  head  about 
six  hundred  yards  was  another  Boche  two-seater.  I 
don't  think  he  had  seen  me  at  that  time  and  I  started 
cHmbing  up  under  him  as  fast  as  I  could.  Unfortu- 
nately I  had  a  new  motor  which  had  just  been  installed 
and  some  of  the  wires,  as  I  learned  on  coming  down, 
were  loose.  My  engine  consequently  did  not  give  me 
anything  like  the  power  it  should  have  and  I  was  very 
slow  in  cUmbing  at  the  high  altitude,  about  thirteen 
or  fourteen  thousand  feet.  I  gained  height  on  the 
Hun  but  very  slowly  and  pretty  soon  he  took  a  turn 
and  saw  me,  whereupon  he  also  started  for  home.  He 
had  flown  inside  our  lines  while  I  was  following  him 
and  I  was  under  his  tail  perhaps  five  minutes  in  all, 
trying  to  get  up  to  him,  but  after  following  him  several 
miles  into  his  own  country  the  closest  I  could  get  to 
him  was  about  400  yards.  It  would  have  been  very 
foohsh  to  go  as  far  into  the  enemy  territory  as  would 
have  been  necessary  in  order  to  catch  him.  I  took 
deliberate  aim  and  gave  him  a  good  salvo,  but  he  was 
much  too  far  off  to  hit,  save  by  the  greatest  good  luck 
and  I  never  touched  him. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  87 

I  had  scarcely  gotten  back  over  the  lines  again  when  I 
spotted  still  another  Boche  two-seater  several  hundred 
yards  below  me  and  coming  in  my  direction.  I  did 
a  quick  turn  and  dove  to  get  behind  his  tail  and  as 
I  did  so  saw  that  there  were  two  and  that  from  the 
way  they  manoeuvred  they  both  saw  me.  I  think 
the  most  difficult  attack  of  all  to  make  is  upon  a  two- 
seater  that  sees  you,  for  with  a  fixed  gun  ahead  for  the 
pilot  and  the  machine  gunner  in  the  rear  with  a  movable 
gun  they  possess  an  enormous  field  of  fire,  and  can  shoot 
you  almost  anywhere  except  under  their  tails.  The 
fire  from  the  pilot^s  gun  of  a  two-seater  is,  however, 
comparatively  easy  to  avoid  so  that  one  can  attack 
head  on  from  in  front,  but  this  gives  the  attacker  only 
the  most  difficult  kind  of  a  shot  and  requires  great  skill 
and  experience.  The  way  most  attacks  are  made, 
is  to  get  under  the  tail  with  all  the  speed  possible  so 
as  to  give  the  machine  gunner  the  hardest  shot  and 
little  time  to  make  it.  I  therefore  dove  for  all  I  was 
worth  and  with  your  motor  and  gravity  both  taking 
you  down  you  can  get  going  so  fast  it  is  hard  to  breathe. 

After  the  second  encounter,  as  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  mist,  I  had  closed  a  Httle  trap  that  I  have  over  my 
sights  so  as  to  keep  the  glass  from  becoming  foggy. 
My  manoeuvre  with  these  Huns  came  out  all  right  and 
brought  me  within  40  yards  of  one  of  them  behind  and 
below.  Every  time  he  would  start  to  turn  I  sHd  around 
with  him  and  he  did  not  fire  a  single  shot.  I  certainly 
thought  I  had  this  fellow,  but  when  I  went  to  squint 
through  the  sights  the  trap  was  closed,  and  I  could 
not  see.  I  tried  to  open  it  and  just  as  I  was  doing  so 
the  Boche  pilot  gave  his  machine  a  twist  so  that  his 
tail  no  longer  protected  me  and  I  saw  the  machine 


88  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

gunner  drawing  a  bead  on  me.  "This  is  no  place  for 
me/'  says  I  and  I  ducked  under  his  tail  again,  at  the 
same  time  standing  my  machine  vertically  on  her 
nose  so  as  to  get  away  while  still  protected  by  the  tail. 
The  machine  gunner  fired  not  more  than  half  a  dozen 
shots  I  think  but  he  luckily  did  not  have  time  to  do 
much  aiming  and  never  touched  me.  I  started  to  go 
back  at  him  again  but  we  were  getting  very  far  into 
his  own  country  and  I  had  to  give  it  up. 

Was  not  that  trick  of  closing  the  sights  the  worst  dub 
trick  you  ever  heard  of?  It  carries  me  back  to  my 
early  days  of  duck  shooting  on  the  river.  How  well  I 
remember  my  feelings  when  I  would  work  hard  for  a 
shot  and  then  just  when  I  thought  I  had  him,  have 
missed  because  in  my  haste  I  had  forgotten  to  cock  my 
gun  or  put  off  the  safety.  I  had  just  the  same  feeling 
to-day  only  worse  for  I  had  set  my  heart  on  that 
Boche.  I  as  a  matter  of  fact  have  another  set  of  open 
sights  which  I  might  have  used,  or  I  could  have  shot 
by  simply  watching  my  tracer  bullets.  Or  again  I 
could  have  stuck  it  out  long  enough  to  open  up  my 
regular  sights  and  use  them  but  I  was  so  surprised  that 
I  guess  I  got  a  bit  rattled  and  just  did  not  think  quickly 
enough.  When  I  woke  up  it  was  too  late.  You  may 
wonder  what  the  other  Boche  was  doing  in  the  mean- 
time. He  was  in  the  front  of  the  one  I  was  attacking 
and  was  where  I  could  see  him,  so  it  was  practically 
the  same  as  only  having  one  to  deal  with.  You  may 
also  wonder  why  I  should  have  missed  the  first  fellow 
I  shot  at.  As  I  have  said  before,  the  whole  business 
reminds  me  of  the  beginnings  of  duck  shooting — there  is 
just  that  same  tendency  to  become  over-anxious  which 
one  must  conquer,  and  then  too  it  makes  a  great  dif- 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  89 

ference  when  you  have  to  keep  ducking  around  under 
a  Boche's  tail  to  keep  him  from  plugging  you.  Quick- 
ness is  essential,  but  there  is  a  certain  quick  delibera- 
tion which  I  think  must  be  acquired  by  practice.  Just 
the  difference  again  between  the  quick  unaimed  snap 
shot  of  the  beginner  in  wing  shooting  and  the  equally 
quick  aimed  shot  of  the  old  hand.  And  when  the  bird 
shoots  back  it  does  make  an  awful  difference  for  when 
you  see  a  machine  gun  aimed  at  you  with  fire  spurting 
out  of  it,  there  is,  to  me  at  least,  a  strong  tendency  to 
duck  my  head  like  a  blooming  ostrich  rooting  in  the 
sand.  To-day  was  my  first  experience  in  attacking  a 
two-seater  from  below  and  I  think  next  time  I  shall  be 
able  to  do  much  better.  The  only  thing  I  accomphshed 
to-day  was  driving  those  four  Huns  home  off  the  lines 
and  if  they  all  go  home  another  tune  I  shall  deserve  a 
good  kick. 

Don't  get  the  idea  that  we  have  fights  every  time  we 
fly.  Until  to-day  I  had  not  had  so  much  as  a  shot  at  a 
Hun  for  three  weeks  although  I  had  in  that  time  done 
considerable  flying.  It  seems  to  come  in  bunches  for 
all  three  encounters  to-day  were  within  twenty-five 
minutes. 

The  clipping  which  I  enclose  about  German  ''Junk- 
ers'' is,  I  happen  to  know,  substantially  true.  Have 
not  seen  any  of  this  new  type  of  machine  as  yet. 
They  are  I  beHeve  only  for  low  work  and  are  so  heavily 
armored  that  they  cannot  fly  very  high. 

I  think  this  is  about  all  the  news  I  have  to  tell  you 
this  time  and  here's  hoping  I  shall  soon  be  able  to  write 
of  an  encounter  with  a  Hun  that  has  a  more  successful 
ending. 

It  is  very  interesting  to  watch  the  changes  that 


90  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

take  place  in  a  sector  as  the  infantry  under  you  attacks 
and  advances.  You  can  trace  the  advance  by  the  slow 
changing  of  green  fields  and  woods  into  a  blasted 
wilderness  which  shows  a  mud  brown  color  from  the 
air.  Fields  become  a  mass  of  shell  holes  filled  with 
water  and  a  wood  turns  from  an  expanse  of  green  foli- 
age into  a  few  shattered  and  leafless  trunks.  For  weeks 
I  have  watched  in  particular  the  destruction  of  a  cer- 
tain forest.*  When  I  arrived  at  the  front  it  was  al- 
most intact,  here  and  there  in  the  few  open  spaces  one 
could  see  an  occasional  shell  hole.  Now  one  whole 
half  of  it  which  faces  our  fines  is  simply  wiped  out  of 
existence  and  but  for  a  few  battered  stumps,  has 
melted  until  it  looks  almost  like  the  surrounding 
quagmire  of  mud  and  shell  holes.  The  other  half 
has  the  appearance  of  a  mangy  dog.  Every  now  and 
then  you  notice  that  there  is  less  green  and  more  mud. 
This  little  forest  is  I  suppose  about  four  kilometres 
square  and  the  change  is  necessarily  gradual.  One  is 
naturally  busy  watching  the  air  about  him,  but  every 
week  or  so  you  wiU  notice  that  the  destruction  of  some 
land-mark  such  as  this  forest  has  advanced  another 
step.  It  is  the  same  way  with  the  little  Belgian  towns. 
By  degrees  they  are  obliterated  until  their  sites  are 
only  distinguishable  by  a  smudge  a  trifle  darker  in  color 
than  the  brown  of  the  torn  fields  which  once  surrounded 
them. 

Bergues,  Oct.  17th. 
Went  out  again  this  morning  with  the  same  French- 
man, looking  for  Huns.     Got  two  more  cracks  at  them. 
The  first  was  too  far  to  accomplish  anything  although 
I  could  see  some  of  my  bullets  going  between  his  wings 

*  Forest  of  Houthulst,  northeast  of  Ypres. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  91 

and  he  and  his  comrade  went  home,  as  the  boys  say 
''Hell  bent  for  Election/'  There  were  two  of  them  just 
as  there  were  yesterday  but  I  could  not  get  up  close. 
The  second  fight  was  with  another  two-seater.  I  saw 
him  coming  toward  me  and  let  him  pass  about  thirty 
yards  over  my  head,  then  jerked  my  machine  around 
quickly  so  as  to  put  myself  under  his  tail,  but  when  I 
came  around  he  was  squarely  in  the  sun  and  I  lost  him 
for  a  minute.  He  soon  showed  me  where  he  was  how- 
ever for  the  machine  gunner  opened  up  and  fired  a  long 
burst.  He  did  not  shoot  far  enough  ahead  of  me 
though,  for  I  saw  the  stream  of  explosive  bullets  pass- 
ing a  couple  of  feet  above  my  head.  Perhaps  it  was 
my  imagination  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  feel  the 
wind  from  the  bullets  as  they  passed.  They  certainly 
gave  me  a  thrill  and  I  lost  no  time  in  getting  under  his 
tail  again.  I  had  however  tried  to  turn  too  quickly 
at  the  high  altitude  (16,000  feet)  and  my  machine  took 
me  down  about  three  hundred  feet  under  him  before  I 
could  stop  it.  This  made  the  shooting  position  very 
poor  for  accurate  work  and  although  I  hit  him  and  could 
see  the  bullets  passing  on  both  sides  of  the  body  of  his 
machine,  they  did  no  serious  damage  and  only  warmed 
him  up  and  sent  him  home.  No  one  who  has  not  tried 
it  reaUzes  what  a  difficult  thing  it  is  to  get  real  accuracy 
in  this  sort  of  work,  I  know  I  never  realized  it  before 
myself.  Once  more  I  have  to  say  ''wait  until  next 
time." 

Paris,  Oct.  20, 1917. 

Arrived  in  Paris  yesterday  to  fly  a  new  machine 

back  to  the  front.    Had  expected  to  get  off  to-day  but 

am  afraid  it  will  be  too  foggy  and  may  have  to  wait  till 

the  morning.    This  new  machine  is  not  for  me  I  think, 


92  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

but  you  will  be  glad  to  know  that  it  will  probably  only 
be  a  couple  of  weeks  before  I  have  the  latest  type,  one 
which  will  out-fly  and  out-climb  anything  the  Huns 
have.  My  present  one  is  very  good  but  the  new  ones 
are  better  and  also  mount  two  guns  instead  of  one. 

Had  two  more  arguments  with  the  Boches  on  the 
18th.  One  in  the  morning  was  a  long  range  hit  and 
run  scrap  with  a  bunch  of  single-seater  fighting  ma- 
chines where  the  object  was  more  to  drive  them  off  than 
anything  else.  In  the  afternoon  I  found  a  two-seater 
by  itself  and  think  the  pilot  was  a  greenhorn  for  when  I 
dove  under  his  tail  he  got  scared  and  started  to  beat  it 
for  home  in  a  perfectly  straight  line.  My  position  was 
perfect  and  the  machine  gunner  could  not  even  see 
me,  let  alone  shoot.  I  could  have  run  into  him  if  I 
had  wanted  to  and  thought  I  had  him  sure.  Two  shots 
and  the  machine  gun  broke.  I  was  so  mad  and  dis- 
appointed I  could  have  cried  but  here's  hoping  such  bad 
luck  is  over  and  things  will  break  my  way  next  time. 
I  have  gotten  a  lot  of  valuable  experience  this  week 
if  nothing  else. 

Bergues.  Oct.  30th,  1917. 
You  referred  in  your  last  letter  to  my  speaking  of 
going  out  alone  with  one  other  man  over  the  lines. 
My  reason  for  doing  this  is  not  at  all  because  we  have 
not  enough  men  to  fly  in  groups,  but  simply  because  two 
is  the  best  number  if  you  want  to  try  to  bring  down  some 
Huns.  Two  men  patrols  are  nearly  always  voluntary 
'^vols  de  chasse"  and  on  such  an  expedition  you  can 
get  a  shot  at  many  Huns  who  would  take  to  the  woods 
in  the  face  of  larger  numbers.  As  you  say,  however, 
there  is  in  aviation  too  much  striving  for  individual 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  93 

success  and  not  enough  team  work.  This  sort  of  thing 
produces  some  fine  men,  but  kills  unnecessarily  a  great 
many  more.  Although  the  Hun  flyers  are  not  up  to  the 
Enghsh  or  French,  man  for  man,  I  have  seen  them 
bag  our  men  on  several  occasions  simply  by  always 
using  their  heads  and  working  on  a  system  and  get  off 
scot-free,  although  the  man  they  got  was  probably 
better  than  any  single  one  of  them. 

As  for  the  statistics  you  say  you  saw  in  Baltimore, 
about  all  our  best  flyers  having  been  killed,  and  many 
of  the  Germans  being  still  alive,  I  think  that  they  are 
mistaken.  Practically  all  the  big  German  aces  are 
gone.  Our  men  and  the  English  have  bagged  several 
here  in  this  sector  this  fall.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
are  a  number  of  Frenchmen  who  have  many  Boche 
machines  to  their  credit. 

We  have  one  fellow  named  Fonck  in  this  group  who 
only  started  in  on  chasse  work  last  Spring,  although 
he  had  been  a  pilot  for  a  long  time.  Already  he  has 
about  twenty  Huns.  He  is  a  wonder,  and  with  a  little 
luck,  should  I  think  equal  Guynemer's  record.  He  is 
the  fellow  I  wrote  you  about,  who  got  the  Boche  who 
was  reported  to  have  killed  Guynemer.  He  flies  a 
great  deal,  and  the  regularity  with  which  he  nails  them 
is  extraordinary.  A  couple  of  days  ago,  he  went  out 
in  the  morning  and  brought  one  Hun  down  in  flames, 
and  killed  a  machine  gunner  in  another,  only  failing 
to  get  it  because  his  engine  went  back  on  him.  In  the 
afternoon  Fonck  went  out  again,  brought  another  two- 
seater  down  in  flames,  and  probably  got  a  single-seater 
as  well.  When  a  man  gets  a  few  Huns  and  becomes 
recognized  as  very  good  he  of  course  gets  greater 
opportunities,  and  has  the  advantage  of  being  among 


94  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

the  first  to  get  the  newest  and  finest  type  of  machine 
before  the  other  pilots.  But  no  matter  what  advan- 
tage of  this  sort  he  has,  Fonck  has  won  it  and  his  re- 
cord is  none  the  less  remarkable. 

I  hope  when  we  are  transferred  to  the  U.  S.  forces 
the  fact  that  we  have  our  Government  back  of  us  will 
enable  us  to  be  among  the  first  to  get  the  best  machines. 
As  an  improvement  is  made,  it  of  course  takes  time  to 
supply  every  one,  but  the  men  who  get  the  new  type 
first  get  the  jump  on  the  others,  so  to  speak,  and  have 
the  great  advantage  of  going  after  the  Huns  with  a 
machine  that  will  perform  better  than  the  Boche  be- 
lieve it  will.  For  instance,  if  your  machine  will  fly 
faster  or  climb  higher  and  more  quickly  than  the 
ordinary  type  will  and  the  Hun  that  you  are  after 
bases  his  calculation  on  the  performance  of  the  ordinary 
type,  you  can  easily  see  that  you  have  a  much  better 
chance  of  fooling  him.  This  keeping  ahead  of  the 
times  is,  I  think,  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  I 
hope  the  U.  S.  Government  realizes  this.  Turning  out 
machines  in  large  quantities  and  standardization 
have  of  course  their  advantages,  but  it  would  be  a 
^reat  mistake  to  load  up  with  a  lot  of  machines  of  a 
certain  type  and  then  by  the  time  we  could  get  them 
on  the  front  in  the  spring  find  that  they  were  out  of 
date.  The  science  of  aeroplane  building  is  still  ad- 
vancing very  fast. 

One  of  my  reasons  for  hoping  that  after  I  have  had 
my  fling  at  the  front  I  may  be  able  to  win  a  higher 
position  is,  because  I  should  much  like  to  have  an 
opportunity  of  trying  to  cut  out  some  of  the  frightful 
inefficiency  and  waste  of  time  and  effort  that  one  sees 
on  every  side.    It  is  sometimes  perfectly  appalling, 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  95 

and  I  can  now  understand  what  I  could  not  understand 
before  I  came  over,  and  that  is,  why  the  Germans 
have  been  able  to  do  so  well.  What  we  know  of  their 
methods  is  of  course  only  hearsay,  but  from  all  ac- 
counts, ''eflSciency  and  united  effort"  are  their  middle 
names — as  the  slang  expression  has  it.  The  results 
they  have  accomplished  certainly  bear  out  this  rep- 
utation. 

What  do  you  all  think  at  home  of  the  recent  Hun 
invasion  of  Italy  ?  The  outlook  is  pretty  gloomy,  is  it 
not,  but  I  hope  it  may  serve  to  make  people  in  America 
realize  that  this  war  is  not  won  yet  by  a  long  sight, 
and  that  if  it  is  going  to  be  won  they  have  got  to  get 
into  it  for  all  they  are  worth.  We  certainly  should 
do  our  utmost  without  complaining  when  one  con- 
siders what  a  soft  time  of  it  we  have  had  so  far.  Yes- 
terday a  Frenchman  came  to  me  with  a  letter  he  had 
received  from  a  friend  of  his,  an  English  infantry 
officer.  It  was  written  in  English  and  he  asked  me 
to  translate  it  for  him.  The  Englishman  was  speak- 
ing of  one  of  the  recent  attacks  and  said  among  other 
things,  that  he  was  sorry  to  have  to  write  that  Major 

X and  his  son  Captain  X had  both  been 

killed  within  an  hour  of  each  other.  I  thought  at  the 
time  that  this  bit  of  news  was  going  to  be  pretty  hard 

on  Mrs.  X when  it  reached  England,  but  this  is 

what  England  has  been  going  through  for  over  three 
years  now.  Practically  all  her  best  young  blood  is  gone. 
When  the  same  sort  of  news  reaches  America  a  hundred 
thousand  times  or  so,  I  guess  we  will  wake  up  and 
reahze  that  we  have  a  war  on  our  hands,  if  we  do  not 
realize  it  already. 

The  Italian  business  is  certainly  too  bad  and  seems  to 


96  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

be  the  direct  result  of  the  Russian  fizzle.  If  the  Rus- 
sians had  only  done  half  their  duty  it  seems  likely  that 
the  war  might  have  been  ended  this  year,  but  now  it 
doesn't  seem  possible  that  the  end  can  come  before 
another  year  at  least. 

Bergues,  November  12th. 

I  am  in  a  particularly  bad  humor  this  morning, 
so  do  not  be  surprised  if  it  is  to  a  certain  extent  reflected 
in  this  letter.  To-day  is  the  most  beautiful  one  that 
could  be  desired — better  than  any  we  have  had  for  two 
weeks,  and  just  what  I  have  been  waiting  for.  Three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  ago  I  was  all  dressed  sitting  in 
my  machine,  about  to  start  out,  when  a  mechanic 
discovered  a  leak  in  a  gasoHne  tank,  which  means  that 
it  must  be  changed  and  that  the  machine  will  not  be 
ready  until  the  morning,  so  there  goes  another  day  to 
pot. 

A  few  days  ago  I  started  out  on  a  patrol  with  two 
lieutenants  and  on  our  way  to  the  lines  we  saw  a  num- 
ber of  miles  to  one  side  of  us  a  great  many  of  our  own 
anti-aircraft  shells  bursting.  We  went  over  to  investi- 
gate and  what  did  we  run  into  but  ten  Hun  Gothas  and 
a  couple  of  chasse  machines  flying  over  them  for  pro- 
tection. The  lieutenant  who  was  leading  our  patrol 
says  he  shot  at  a  couple  of  them,  but  I  could  not  see 
him  do  it,  as  I  was  a  httle  behind.  The  cover  of  my 
radiator  had  cracked  and  the  water,  mixed  with  glycer- 
ine to  keep  it  from  freezing,  had  sprayed  out,  covering 
my  telescope  sights,  the  windshield  and  my  glasses, 
so  that  I  could  not  see  well.  I  had  gotten  a  Httle  be- 
hind the  others  in  trying  to  clean  things  up  with  my 
handkerchief.    At  all  events,  the  lieutenant's  machine 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  97 

gun  went  back  on  him,  and  he  started  back  with  the 
other  lieutenant  after  him;  seeing  them  both  go,  I 
thought  they  must  be  after  a  Hun  that  I  had  not  seen, 
so  I  started  to  follow  them,  but  when  I  could  see  no 
signs  of  a  Boche  in  that  direction,  I  turned  back. 

A  Gotha  machine,  you  know,  is  the  enormous  Hun 
machine  that  they  use  for  their  night  bombing  in  the 
raids  on  England.  They  are  almost  as  big  as  the  Ca- 
proni  which  they  have  been  recently  demonstrating 
in  the  U.  S.  They  have  two  motors  and  as  a  rule 
carry  three  or  four  men.  They  are  unusually  well 
armed  with  movable  machine  guns,  fore  and  aft,  and 
the  usual  zone  of  safety  under  the  tail  is  removed  by 
means  of  a  tunnel  in  the  fuselage,  which  enables  them 
to  shoot  under  their  tails.  It  therefore  behooves  you 
to  "mind  your  eye'^  when  you  attack  and  to  make  sure 
you  either  get  him  or  put  his  rear  gunners  out  of 
business  at  least,  for  although  you  may  be  able  to 
approach  without  giving  him  much  of  a  shot  it  is  im- 
possible not  to  give  him  a  shot  in  getting  away. 

These  Gothas  were  the  first  that  I  had  ever  had  a 
real  look  at  for  they  are  rarely  seen  by  day;  once  or 
twice  I  have  seen  them  in  the  distance  over  the  lines. 
At  all  events,  when  I  turned  back,  I  spotted  one  Gotha 
off  a  little  to  one  side  of  the  squadron  and  somewhat 
over  my  head.  As  they  were  only  about  9000  feet  up 
climbing  was  easy  and  I  started  after  him.  They  saw 
what  I  was  up  to  however  and  the  Hun  drew  in  along- 
side of  his  companion  for  protection.  Under  these 
circumstances,  it  is  foolishness  to  attack  by  yourself, 
for  you  will  have  at  least  two  or  three  machine  gunners 
shooting  at  you  with  their  movable  guns  and  no  way 
of  protecting  yourself  when  you  want  to  shoot,  for 


98  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

then  you  have  to  hold  your  machine  steady.  You  will 
just  get  riddled  with  practically  no  chance  of  success 
to  compensate  for  it.  I  accordingly  looked  for  better 
game  and  saw  another  Gotha  behind  the  squadron  all 
by  himself  and  below  me.  I  flew  around  over  him  for 
a  minute  to  see  if  the  coast  was  clear  and  then  dove 
down  behind  his  tail.  When  I  started  after  him  he  left 
the  others  and  put  for  home  as  fast  as  he  could  go. 
All  these  Huns  were  well  within  our  lines,  and  this  was 
just  what  I  wanted. 

About  this  time  I  looked  around  to  see  if  any  other 
Huns  were  coming  on  my  tail  and  there  were  two  chasse 
machines  just  behind  me  in  the  sun.  This  gave  me  a 
jolt  for  with  my  glasses  all  fogged  up  it  took  me  several 
seconds  to  make  sure  that  they  were  English  and  not 
Huns.  All  the  time  the  ''Archie''  shells  were  bursting 
in  every  direction,  for  in  this  sector  at  least,  they  often 
do  not  stop  shooting  just  because  one  of  their  own 
machines  goes  after  a  Hun.  As  they  generally  shoot 
behind  they  come  closer  to  you  than  to  the  Huns, 
and  it  always  makes  me  sore.  They  did  the  same  trick 
the  day  before  when  I  was  trying  to  sneak  up  under  a 
Hun's  tail.  That  time  our  guns  were  shooting  at 
him  and  their  guns  shooting  at  me,  so  that  between 
the  two  there  was  quite  a  bit  of  a  bombardment.  It 
seems  to  me  that  this  is  bad  policy  for  it  is  compara- 
tively rare  that  they  hit  a  machine  with  the  "Archies" 
and  why  bother  a  man  who  really  has  a  good  chance  of, 
accomplishing  something. 

To  come  back  to  the  Gotha,  I  got  within  150  yards 
of  him  just  behind  his  tail,  so  that  he  never  fired  a 
shot,  but  when  I  tried  to  aim  everything  was  so  gummed 
up  I  could  not  see  the  sights  and  the  Gotha  was  nothing 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  99 

but  a  blur.  Now  as  I  have  explained,  these  machines 
are  regular  battle  ships  of  the  air,  and  to  get  them  you 
have  got  to  fairly  riddle  them  for  they  frequently  carry 
two  pilots  in  case  one  is  killed.  I  had  to  give  this  one 
up  without  firing  a  shot  and  I  have  been  wondering  ever 
since  whether  I  did  what  I  should  have.  My  mistake 
was,  in  not  going  in  quicker,  and  if  I  had  then  had  time 
to  get  right  up  close  to  him  before  he  got  into  his  own 
lines,  I  could  probably  have  seen  well  enough  to  shoot 
anyhow.  On  the  only  other  time  that  I  have  seen 
Gothas  by  day  they  have  been  escorted  by  a  whole 
flock  of  fighting  planes.  Being  by  myself  on  this 
occasion  and  not  able  to  see  clearly  I  don't  mind  say- 
ing those  Huns  had  me  nervous.  But  it  was  such  a 
glorious  chance  and  would  have  been  such  a  triumph 
if  I  could  have  bagged  him,  that  it  was  worth  taking 
much  bigger  risks  than  one  would  usually  take.  The 
only  Frenchman  I  ever  heard  of  who  got  one  was  Cap- 
tain Guynemer.  I  shall  probably  not  have  such  a 
chance  in  six  months,  but  if  I  do  I  shall  certainly  try 
to  make  better  use  of  it.  I  am  sort  of  ashamed  of  my- 
self for  not  sticking  to  that  Hun  and  perhaps  accom- 
plishing something. 

The  day  before  my  experience  with  the  Gotha  I 
went  out  in  the  morning  with  the  chief  of  the  Escadrille, 
Captain  Deullin.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  been 
out  alone  with  him  on  a  Hun  hunting  expedition  and  I 
was  very  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  watch  him  fighting, 
for  he  is  an  old  hand  at  the  game  and  there  is  probably 
no  one  in  the  French  Army  more  skilful  than  he.  I 
am  glad  to  say  that  I  think  he  will  now  take  me  with 
him  as  a  protection  for  his  rear  in  other  expeditions 
of  the  kind,  and  this  protection  business  often  gives 


100  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

the  protector  some  splendid  opportunities,  not  to 
mention  the  lot  that  one  can  learn  by  watching.  I 
was  glad  to  see  that  the  captain's  methods  of  attack 
were  the  same  as  I  had  been  trying,  although  of  course 
much  more  skilfully  executed.  He  has  a  faster  ma- 
chine than  mine  and  left  me  a  httle  behind  several 
times  when  he  was  attacking  a  two-seater.  I  only  got 
a  few  very  long  shots  at  one. 

He  had  one  fight  with  some  single-seater  fighting 
machines  which  turned  out  better.  I  was  right  be- 
hind the  captain  and  started  down  with  him  when  he 
dove  down  to  attack  the  highest  of  several  Boche  single- 
seaters.  In  my  capacity  as  rear  guard  I  was  necessarily 
several  hundred  yards  behind,  and  about  the  time  that 
I  started  to  follow  the  captain  I  caught  sight  of  an- 
other Hun  coming  in  behind  me  and  on  the  same  level. 
He  was  a  good  way  off,  but  started  to  shoot  at  me,  so 
I  had  to  turn  and  chase  him.  When  I  started  after 
him  he  also  turned  and  started  to  run  but  I  had  no 
more  than  begun  to  follow  him  when  still  another  put  in 
an  appearance  above  me,  and  I  had  to  get  out.  In  the 
meantime  the  captain  had  gotten  close  to  his  man  but 
had  to  stop  shooting  at  him  to  defend  himself  against 
a  couple  of  others  and  in  doing  so  lost  sight  of  the  Hun 
he  had  attacked.  As  soon  as  we  landed,  he  told  me 
he  could  not  understand  why  the  fellow  had  not  fallen, 
for  he  had  seen  at  least  ten  of  his  tracer  bullets  fired  at 
point  blank  range  apparently  go  right  into  the  pilot's 
seat.  Sure  enough,  a  few  minutes  later  confirmation 
came  in  that  a  Hun  had  fallen  at  that  time  and  place. 
This  made  nineteen  for  Captain  Deullin. 

The  afternoon  that  Captain  Deullin  got  his  Hun  he 
asked  me  to  go  with  him  in  his  motor  to  have  a  look 


ESCADRILLE  N   78  101 

at  the  Boche  as  the  machine  had  fallen  in  our  lines, 
and  besides  we  were  not  entirely  sure  whether  the  one 
reported  was  the  same  as  the  one  the  captain  had  shot. 
We  had  some  little  difficulty  in  locating  the  spot,  for 
the  report  had  not  been  entirely  accurate,  and  neither 
I  nor  the  Captain  had  been  able  to  see  the  Hun  fall, 
having  been  otherwise  occupied  for  the  moment. 
Also,  the  fight  took  place  some  15,000  feet  up,  and  at 
this  height  no  matter  how  hard  you  try  to  watch  a 
machine  it  is  usually  lost  to  view  before  it  hits  the 
ground. 

The  trip  to  the  lines  was  just  what  I  have  been  want- 
ing to  do  ever  since  I  have  reached  the  front,  and  it 
goes  without  saying  it  was  most  interesting.  I  have 
seen  the  same  places  hundreds  of  times  from  the  air, 
but  you  do  not  get  the  detail  that  way.  As  you  ap- 
proach the  lines,  you  come  first  to  a  country  of  occa- 
sional old  shell  holes,  and  villages  with  here  and  there 
a  smashed  house.  As  you  go  on,  the  shell  holes  become 
more  and  more  frequent  and  the  villages  more  and  more 
completely  demoHshed.  We  passed  on  to  little  ham- 
lets, now  used  principally  for  the  quartering  of  troops, 
where  the  gaping  holes  in  the  walls  and  the  splintered 
trees  gave  evidence  of  the  shelling  they  had  received 
in  the  days  before  the  Hun  was  driven  back.  Then 
we  drove  through  what  is  probably  the  most  famous 
city  *  of  the  war,  once  a  good  sized  town,  with  many 
fine  buildings,  among  them  a  beautiful  cathedral. 
I  looked  carefully  to  see  and  without  exaggeration  there 
is  not  a  building  left  with  a  roof,  or  that  is  more  than 
a  gutted  shell.  Few  of  them  are  even  this — the  walls 
also  being  blown  in,  and  the  cathedral  is  typical  of 

*  Ypres. 


102  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

practically  every  house  in  the  city,  a  pile  of  rubbish  and 
broken  stones,  with  here  and  there  the  battered  frag- 
ment of  a  wall  still  standing.  We  shall  never  be  able 
to  make  the  Huns  really  pay  for  the  damage  they  have 
done,  but  one  cannot  but  look  forward  to  the  day  when 
we  shall  be  in  a  position  to  give  them  a  bit  of  their  own 
medicine  in  their  own  country. 

The  desolation  of  this  city  was  as  complete  as  it  is 
possible  to  be  in  a  city,  but  not  so  complete  I  think  as 
that  of  the  country  beyond,  where  the  hardest  fighting 
of  the  war  has  now  been  raging  for  almost  the  past  three 
and  a  half  years.  This  country  defies  all  description, 
and  as  I  have  told  you  before,  the  nearest  approach 
to  it  I  know  of  in  America  is  a  northern  swamp  where 
a  district  once  destroyed  by  a  forest  fire  has  been 
flooded.  Every  tree  is  a  splintered,  leafless  wreck, 
killed  as  though  by  hghtning,  where  indeed  there  is 
more  than  a  stump  left.  The  ground  is  a  mass  of 
merging  holes,  filled  with  water.  It  is  easy  to  under- 
stand why  the  men  are  always  in  mud  when  one  passes 
through  this  region,  for  as  you  drive  along  the  road 
you  are  as  if  on  a  dike  with  the  surrounding  land  be- 
low you.  There  are  little  ridges  of  course  but  in 
many  places  the  country  lies  below  the  road  as  do  the 
marshes  when  you  are  approaching  the  Jersey  coast. 
The  ground  is  strewn  with  the  wreckage  of  the  war, 
especially  near  the  road,  broken  wagons  and  junk  of  all 
kinds;  once  we  came  upon  a  number  of  used  up  tanks; 
now  and  then  you  pass  a  cemetery  with  its  thousands  of 
little  wooden  crosses,  some  bearing  the  name  and  rank 
and  the  legend  ''Killed  in  action  June  27,  1916"  for 
instance;  others  simply  mark  the  grave  of  an  unknown 
soldier  fallen  there.    One  cannot  but  think  of  how  much 


bfi 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  103 

lies  behind  each  one  of  those  little  wooden  crosses  be- 
sides the  bones  which  rest  beneath  it. 

We  went  in  the  motor  as  far  as  the  road  would  allow 
us,  perhaps  1000  yards  from  the  first  line,  and  then  got 
out  and  walked  over  about  200  yards  to  an  artillery 
officer's  dug-out,  to  inquire  for  our  Hun.  The  walking 
reminded  me  a  little  of  wading  for  reedbirds  in  one  of 
those  very  soft  marshes  on  the  river  at  home  where 
you  sink  in  up  to  your  knees.  We  found  that  we  were 
within  800  yards  of  where  the  Boche  had  fallen  that 
morning,  but  it  was  practically  dark  by  this  time 
so  we  could  not  go  up  to  have  a  look  at  him;  this  was 
disappointing  as  the  machine  was  a  new  German  type 
which  we  wished  to  see.*  The  artillery  officer  had  seen 
him  fall  and  said  that  he  had  lost  his  wings  on  his 
way  down,  and  all  he  saw  coming  was  the  body  of  the 
machine.  The  place  we  got  to  was  up  with  the  light 
artillery  and  of  course  considerably  ahead  of  the 
heavy.  By  the  time  we  started  back,  it  was  dark, 
blowing  hard,  with  rain,  and  a  more  dismal  sight  you 
never  beheld.  Every  second  or  so  the  desolate  country 
would  be  fit  up  by  the  flash  of  one  of  our  big  guns,  im- 
mediately followed  by  the  crash  of  the  explosion  and 
the  shriek  of  the  shell  as  it  passed  out  over  our  heads  to 
the  Boche  lines.  Added  to  this,  the  whine  and  crash 
of  the  shells  coming  the  other  way,  and  in  the  distance 
on  the  front  lines  themselves,  the  rat-tat-tat  of  the 
machine  guns  and  the  star  shells  going  up  and  hanging 
in  the  sky  for  a  few  seconds,  with  the  brilliancy  of  an 
arc  light.  When  moving  in  this  country  at  night  one 
can  of  course  carry  no  light,  but  the  flashes  of  the  guns 
light  up  the  road  like  very  vivid  heat  lightning  on  a 

*Pfalz. 


^ 


104  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

summer  night.  It  is  easy  enough  to  distinguish  the 
different  sounds  made  by  a  ^'depart'^  and  an  ''arriv6/' 
especially  after  one  has  had  a  little  practice  listening 
to  both  ends  of  the  anti-aircraft  gun  firing,  but  I 
beheve  soldiers  in  the  trenches  can  also  distinguish 
between  the  whine  of  their  own  shells  going  out  and 
the  enemy's  shells  coming  in.  Of  course  if  you  hap- 
pen to  be  able  to  spot  the  individual  report  of  a  gun 
and  then  hear  the  shell  afterwards,  you  know  that  it  is 
one  of  your  own,  but  when  this  is  not  possible  it  is  hard 
for  a  beginner  to  know  which  is  which.  They  sound 
very  much  like  a  falling  bomb. 

I  do  not  envy  those  infantrymen  and  artillerymen 
their  jobs,  but  generally  they  would  not  swap  with  us 
for  anything,  so  we  are  both  satisfied  with  our  branches 
of  the  service,  and  I  guess  it  is  just  as  well  that  it  is 
that  way.  It  is  little  wonder  though  that  men  get  shell 
shock,  sitting  in  one  of  those  shell-holes — up  to  your 
middle  in  cold  water  and  Hstening  to  the  whine  of  the 
shells  and  wondering  when  one  is  coming  to  share  your 
hole  with  you — ^must  get  frightfully  on  a  man's  nerves. 
As  we  retraced  our  steps  across  that  bleak  wind-swept 
morass  in  the  face  of  the  cold  rain,  groping  around  the 
shell  craters  by  the  light  of  the  guns,  I  was  mighty  glad 
I  had  a  warm  bed  to  go  to  where  I  could  only  just  hear 
those  guns  rumbling  in  the  distance. 

Bergues,  November  13 
Yesterday  afternoon  we  had  a  little  ceremony  in 
honor  of  Captain  Guynemer  at  which  his  last  citation 
before  the  army  was  read  and  some  of  the  other  men 
received  decorations.  Just  before  it  started,  a  most 
unfortunate  accident  occurred,  about  which  I  shall 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  105 

tell  you,  as  it  throws  a  little  light  on  the  death  of 
Oliver.  We  were  all  standing  on  the  field  and  a  patrol 
from  the  escadrille  was  just  going  out.  I  could  not  go 
along,  for  as  I  told  you  my  gasoline  tank  had  to  be 
changed.  One  of  our  men  who  went  up  was  a  captain, 
a  new  pilot,  who  had  only  been  here  about  a  week,  and 
was  starting  on  his  first  patrol  over  the  lines.  He  had 
gotten  up  about  600  metres  and  as  I  watched  him  he 
executed  a  'Hournant^'  and  did  it  pretty  well  for  a  new 
man.  My  attention  had  been  attracted  however  by  the 
rough  manner  in  which  he  handled  his  machine,  the 
smooth  grace  of  an  old  hand  was  lacking.  When  he 
turned  right  side  up  after  the  ''toumant,"  instead  of 
going  on  he  dove  vertically  on  his  nose  at  the  same  time 
doing  a  half  turn  in  a  vrille  very  slowly;  then  he  dove 
straight  again  and  then  another  slow  turn;  every  min- 
ute I  thought  he  would  pull  up,  until  he  got  within  a 
couple  of  hundred  metres  of  the  ground,  when  I  saw 
that  something  was  wrong;  he  kept  right  on  diving  on 
his  nose  until  he  disappeared  behind  some  trees  half  a 
mile  away,  then  came  a  dull  thud,  and  we  knew  that 
that  was  the  end  of  the  little  captain.  Such  things  are 
not  pleasant  to  see;  no  one  says  much,  for  there  is 
nothing  to  say,  and  you  just  stand  there  helpless  and 
wait  for  the  end.  What  happened  to  make  him  fall  no 
one  knows,  and  you  can  only  guess  that  upon  doing  the 
"tournant''  he  must  have  gotten  rattled,  and  lost  his 
head.  So  far  as  one  could  see,  nothing  broke  about  the 
machine,  and  I  flew  the  same  one  a  few  weeks  ago  when 
mine  was  out  of  order,  did  barrel  rolls  and  other  forms 
of  acrobacy  and  everything  seemed  perfectly  strong. 
I  was  very  sorry,  for  the  captain  seemed  like  a  nice  Httle 
fellow;  he  was  a  captain  in  the  infantry  who  had  been 


106  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

transferred  to  the  aviation.  Later  in  the  afternoon  I 
walked  over  to  where  the  machine  had  fallen  to  have 
a  look  at  it  for  I  thought  at  the  time  that  that  was 
probably  just  the  sort  of  a  fall  that  Oliver  had  taken 
and  I  wanted  to  see  if  the  wreck  of  this  machine  looked 
anything  like  the  picture  I  sent  you.  What  I  found 
was  almost  a  replica  of  that  picture,  which  merely  goes 
to  confirm  the  report  we  received  of  the  manner  of 
Oliver's  fall.  In  his  case  however  it  is  of  course  pos- 
sible that  the  machine  was  further  demoHshed  by  shell 
fire. 

Had  some  excitement  to-day  but  I  cannot  write  you 
about  it  now  if  this  letter  is  to  catch  the  next  boat, 
so  you  will  have  to  wait  until  next  time. 

Plessis-Belleville.  November  18, 1917. 
Here  I  am  again  at  Plessis-Belleville  and  it  seems  a 
long  time  since  Oliver  and  I  left  here  together  for  the 
front  in  July.  I  flew  an  old  machine  down  this  morn- 
ing and  now  have  a  little  while  before  my  train  leaves 
for  Paris.  You  see  when  a  plane  is  considered  no 
longer  fit  for  service  at  the  front,  it  is  sent  here  to  be 
used  up  for  instruction  purposes.  The  fact  that  a 
machine  can  no  longer  be  used  at  the  front  does  not 
necessarily  mean  that  it  is  not  strong,  but  simply  that 
it  has  lost  some  of  its  efiiciency  and  cannot  climb  as 
well  or  fly  as  fast  as  it  once  could.  I  had  to  come  to 
Paris  anyhow  to  get  my  own  new  machine  and  fly  it 
back  and  as  we  had  at  the  escadrille  an  old  machine 
to  be  taken  to  the  rear  the  captain  told  me  to  fly  it  down 
instead  of  going  by  train.  As  you  may  guess  I  vastly 
prefer  the  former  method,  for  the  trip  is  an  interesting 
one  and  the  time  required  to  go  by  air  is  about  one 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  107 

hour  and  a  half  as  compared  with  fourteen  or  fifteen 
by  train.  It  was  quite  misty  this  morning  so  that  I 
flew  all  the  way  at  about  six  or  eight  hundred  metres. 
Not  being  able  to  fly  high  and  the  visibility  being  very 
poor  I  came  by  way  of  the  sea,  keeping  it  always  in 
sight  until  I  struck  the  mouth  of  the  Somme,  then  fol- 
lowed the  river  to  Amiens  and  from  there  on  down  the 
railroad.  The  country  is  still  new  to  me  and  I  did 
not  wish  to  get  myself  lost  in  the  mist.  Going  back, 
if  the  weather  permits  I  shall  take  the  direct  route 
behind  the  front,  for  I  am  anxious  to  get  to  know  this 
section  of  the  country.  It  may  be  very  useful  when 
we  are  in  the  U.  S.  Army.  The  return  trip  should 
also  be  very  interesting,  as  it  will  take  me  over  the 
country  evacuated  by  the  Germans  last  spring,  the 
famous  battlefield  of  the  Somme  and  also  that  of  Arras. 

All  this  explains  why  I  am  now  at  Plessis-Belleville 
writing  to  you  in  the  Httle  Cafe  de  la  Place,  where  I 
lived  while  I  was  here  in  training,  and  of  which  I  think 
I  have  sent  you  a  picture.  To-morrow  morning  I  shall 
go  to  the  great  distributing  station  for  aeroplanes  near 
Paris,  see  that  my  machine  is  all  right,  take  it  up  and 
try  it  out,  and  then  next  day  (weather  permitting) 
fly  it  back  to  the  front. 

Being  here  again,  reminds  me  very  much  of  Oliver, 
for  it  was  here  that  I  really  came  to  know,  and  I  hope 
appreciate  him,  and  we  did  have  lots  of  fun,  flying  to- 
gether, and  in  off  times  taking  long  walks  through  a 
beautiful  country  and  talking  in  frightful  French  to 
the  people  we  met  by  the  way.  He  knew  more  words 
than  I  did,  but  I  think  I  could  beat  him  sometimes  on 
accent — New  England  and  French  inflections  are  a 
trifle  different. 


108  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

I  have  been  thinking  a  good  deal  about  Oliver  lately, 
and  I  am  sorry  that  I  shall  have  to  be  again  the  sender 
of  bad  tidings  to  his  father,  for  last  Thursday  I  found 
his  grave.  I  told  you  in  one  of  my  letters  not  long 
ago  about  a  couple  of  the  Frenchmen  in  our  escadrille 
having  been  brought  down,  one  was  named  Jolivet  and 
the  other  Dron;  you  have  pictures  of  them  both,  and 
I  remember  I  sent  you  one  of  Dron,  with  a  cigarette  in 
his  mouth  and  a  httle  puppy  in  his  arms.  Captain 
DeuUin  went  up  to  the  lines  some  time  ago  to  see  if 
he  could  find  where  they  had  fallen,  and  when  he  came 
back  reported  that  he  had  found  the  graves  of  both. 
He  had  not  told  me  that  he  was  going,  for  I  should  cer- 
tainly have  asked  to  go  with  him;  he  reported,  to  my 
surprise,  that  he  had  found  the  grave  of  Jolivet  in  al- 
most exactly  the  same  spot  where  I  thought  OHver 
had  fallen.  Thursday  the  whole  escadrille  went  up 
behind  the  lines  to  arrange  the  graves  of  the  two 
Frenchmen.  I  was  glad  to  go  and  also  glad  of  the 
opportunity  to  at  last  look  personally  for  some  trace 
of  Oliver.  When  we  arrived  at  what  the  captain 
thought  was  the  grave  of  Jolivet,  lying  scattered  about 
it  were  the  fragments  of  a  shattered  plane.  I  at  once 
searched  for  a  number,  and  soon  found  what  I  was 
looking  for,  1429,  almost  obliterated  by  the  rains  of 
the  past  three  months.  That  was  the  number  of 
Oliver's  machine,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  wreckage 
was  a  rough  grave;  at  its  head  a  wooden  cross  that 
some  one  had  made  by  nailing  two  pieces  of  board 
together,  and  on  the  cross  written  with  an  indelible 
pencil  ''Ici  repose  un  aviateur  inconnu."*  All  around 
the  grave  a  mass  of  shell  holes  filled  with  water,  and 

*  Here  lies  an  unknown  aviator. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  109 

the  other  decorations  of  a  modern  battlefield.  I 
tried  to  describe  to  you  before  what  it  is  like,  and  this 
was  but  a  repetition  of  the  rest,  that  is,  at  least  in  this 
sector.  A  flat  low  country  torn  almost  beyond  recogni- 
tion by  the  shells,  here  and  there  the  dead  shattered 
trees  sticking  up  from  the  mud  and  water,  occasionally 
a  dead  horse  and  everywhere  quantities  of  tangled 
barbed  wire  and  cast-off  material.  Just  beyond  the 
grave  was  the  German  first  line  before  the  attack  on 
August  16th.  It  is  marked  by  a  row  of  half-wrecked 
concrete  shelters,  pill  boxes  the  English  call  them. 
Just  beyond  this  a  village,*  but  I  stood  on  what  had 
been  the  main  street  and  did  not  know  that  there  had 
been  a  village  there  until  the  captain  showed  it  to  me 
on  the  map.  This  little  town  has  been  so  completely 
blown  to  pieces  and  churned  into  the  mud  that  there 
is  Hterally  nothing  left  to  distinguish  it  from  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Not  even  a  foundation  stone  left 
standing. 

The  grave  is  only  about  1500  yards  from  our  first 
lines  and  not  far  in  front  of  the  heavy  artillery.  I 
have  marked  it  exactly  on  a  map,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  whatever  that  this  is  where  Oliver  is  buried. 
Although  scattered  and  still  further  broken  by  the 
weather,  the  wreck  of  the  machine  is  recognizable 
as  the  same  as  that  shown  in  the  picture  taken  by 
the  priest,  the  same  broken  roof  of  a  house  in  the 
foreground,  and  in  the  distance  the  same  sticks  and 
splintered  trees. 

I  am  having  a  plate  engraved  by  one  of  our  mechanics 
who  was  an  engraver  before  the  war;  on  it  will  be 
''Oliver  Moulton  Chad  wick,  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts, 

*  Langewaede. 


110  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

U.  S.,  a  Pilot  in  the  French  Aviation,  born  September 
23rd,  1888;  enlisted  January  22nd,  1917;  Killed  in 
action  August  14th,  1917."  This  will  show  that  he 
was  an  American  pilot  in  the  French  service,  enHsted 
as  a  volunteer  before  America  entered  the  war.  I 
think  the  simpler  such  things  are,  the  better.  Around 
the  grave  now  is  a  little  black  wooden  raihng,  which  we 
put  there,  and  a  neat  oaken  cross,  on  the  cross  a  bronze 
palm,  with  the  inscription  ''Mort  pour  la  patrie." 
The  captain  and  I  are  going  back  soon  to  put  the  plate 
on  the  cross  and  I  have  bought  a  little  French  flag  and 
an  American  one,  for  I  think  he  would  like  this.  Also 
I  thought  I  would  try  and  get  a  few  flowers.  The  spot 
should  be  a  peaceful  one  after  the  war,  for  it  will  take 
years  to  make  anything  out  of  that  country  again. 
Just  at  present  there  is  a  great  deal  of  artillery  close 
behind;  the  roar  of  the  guns  was  almost  incessant  when 
we  were  there  and  a  stream  of  shells  went  whining  over- 
head on  the  way  to  the  Hun  lines. 

Paeis.  November  23rd. 
In  my  last  letter  to  father  I  mentioned  at  the  end 
that  I  had  had  some  excitement,  which  I  would  write 
to  him  about.  That  was  ten  days  ago  now,  but  I 
have  really  not  had  time  since  to  write.  What  I  re- 
ferred to,  was  this.  That  afternoon  I  had  gotten  an- 
other American  in  one  of  the  escadrilles  in  our  group 
to  go  out  with  me  and  protect  my  tail  while  we  tried 
to  see  if  we  could  not  find  some  Huns.  For  a  while  we 
did  not  see  much,  and  then  below  us  we  spotted  five 
single-seater  fighting  machines,  who  had  evidently  made 
a  little  excursion  into  our  lines,  and  were  just  going  back 
into  their  own.    We  attacked  them  together.    My 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  111 

companion  pulled  up  a  little  too  soon  to  have  allowed 
him  a  reasonable  chance  of  accomplishing  anything 
I  think,  but  I,  on  the  other  hand,  got  in  a  Httle  too  far. 
You  may  think  it  sounds  fooHsh  or  as  if  one  was  blow- 
ing a  bit  to  talk  about  attacking  five  when  we  were 
only  two,  but  an  attack  does  not  necessarily  mean  that 
you  charge  into  the  middle  of  them  and  mix  it  up. 
On  the  contrary  you  can  by  diving  at  high  speed  from 
above  get  in  some  shots  and  then  by  using  your  great 
speed  cHmb  up  above  them  again  out  of  reach  before 
they  can  get  in  a  shot.  If  you  remember  to  leave  your 
motor  on  as  you  are  diving  and  in  this  way  to  come 
down  as  fast  as  possible,  without  at  the  same  time 
going  so  fast  as  to  interfere  with  your  shooting,  the 
great  speed  gained  in  this  way  will  enable  you  to 
make  a  short  steep  climb  and  thus  regain  a  position 
perhaps  two  hundred  metres  above  the  heads  of  the 
Huns  where  they  cannot  effectively  shoot  at  you.  I 
am  now  of  course  speaking  only  of  an  attack  on  a 
group  of  single-seater  machines.  If  the  engagement 
ends  here  the  chances  of  bringing  one  down  are  not 
great,  but  you  can  sometimes  by  such  methods  and  by, 
for  instance,  hitting  some  part  of  one  of  the  machines, 
so  worry  the  Huns  that  one  will  in  the  general  confu- 
sion get  separated  from  his  comrades  so  that  you  can 
get  a  fair  crack  at  him.  This  was  about  the  first  time 
I  had  had  a  chance  to  try  it,  however,  and  I  made  a 
botch  of  it.  I  saw  I  was  getting  in  too  close,  but  did, 
I  think,  hit  one  of  the  Huns,  though  not  seriously.  In 
my  haste  to  get  out,  I  made  a  false  manoeuvre,  and 
fell  on  my  nose  instead  of  climbing  up,  as  I  should 
have  done.  The  result  was,  that  the  Hun  I  had  been 
shooting  at  and  who  had  turned,  got  behind  me  on  my 


112  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

tail  in  a  most  unpleasant  position,  where  he  could  shoot 
and  I  could  not.  Naturally  I  did  not  let  him  stay- 
there  long,  but  had  to  dodge  and  beat  a  retreat.  He 
did  manage  to  hit  my  machine  a  couple  of  times,  one 
bullet  through  a  wing  and  another  through  the  body 
of  the  machine  about  six  inches  behind  me,  but  never 
touched  me  and  did  my  plane  no  harm  whatever.  It 
did  not  take  much  thinking  to  see  that  my  little  ma- 
noeuvre had  been  very  badly  executed. 

My  companion  and  I  started  off  again  to  see  what 
else  we  could  find,  and  15  minutes  later  I  spotted  six 
more  Huns  in  almost  the  same  place.  This  time  foiu* 
two-seaters  with  two  single-seaters  above  and  behind 
them  acting  as  protection.  The  two-seaters  were  far 
enough  below  not  to  have  to  bother  about,  so  I  tried 
the  same  plan  again  and  came  down  on  the  rear  of 
one  of  the  single-seaters.  I  blazed  away  at  him  and 
he  made  the  same  manoeuvre  as  the  first  one,  but  this 
time  I  kept  shooting  until  very  close,  then  sailed  up 
over  his  head,  did  a  quick  turn,  and  dropped  on  his 
tail  again.  Before  foUowJing  him,  I  looked  to  see  what 
the  other  single-seater  was  up  to,  and  saw  him  bravely 
making  tracks  for  home,  leaving  his  friend  to  shift  for 
himself.  I  therefore  kept  after  the  first,  and  poured 
in  all  about  200  shots  into  him,  many  of  which  I  am 
sure  hit  the  machine,  for  I  could  see  the  tracer  bullets 
apparently  go  almost  into  the  pilot.  I  think  my  first 
burst  of  bullets  put  his  engine  out  of  business  for  he 
did  not  seem  able  to  dive  very  fast  and  I  could  catch 
him  with  ease. 

Several  times  when  he  would  do  a  renversement  he 
would  turn  up  and  slide  off  on  one  wing,  as  though  he 
were  going  to  fall  and  I  thought  I  had  him  sure. 


ESCADRILLE  N,  73  113 

Three  times  I  was  so  close,  only  about  30  feet,  that 
I  had  to  pull  up  to  avoid  running  into  him.  I  could 
see  the  Hun  sitting  there,  staring  up  at  me  through 
his  goggles,  the  color  of  his  bonnet  and  all  the  details 
of  the  show.  This  kept  up  from  4000  to  1800  metres, 
and  he  never  got  in  a  shot,  I  am  glad  to  say.  Why  he 
did  not  fall,  I  do  not  know.  There  is  however  always 
a  very  good  reason  why  they  get  away,  I  think,  and 
that  is  because  you  do  not  hold  quite  close  enough.  I 
know  the  experience  taught  me  a  lesson  about  being 
too  hasty  in  my  shooting.  I  finally  had  to  let  him  go 
because  I  caught  sight  of  nine  of  his  brethren  coming 
to  his  rescue  and  when  they  started  after  me  and  be- 
gan to  shoot  I  thought  discretion  the  better  part  of 
valor  and  got  out.  At  this  time  the  Boche  was  flop- 
ping about  in  the  air  and  letting  out  a  considerable 
quantity  of  smoke. 

Being  busy  in  the  getting  out,  I  could  no  longer 
watch  my  would-be  victim,  but  the  American  who 
was  with  me  and  who  had  stayed  above  as  a  sort  of 
rear  guard  was  able  to  watch  him  and  said  that  the 
last  he  saw  of  the  Hun  he  was  still  going  down  in  a 
spiral  with  black  smoke  coming  out  of  his  tail.  The 
latter  means  a  fire  on  board  and  if  this  was  the  case  I 
think  that  Hun's  flying  days  are  over  unless  he  gets 
a  pair  of  wings  in  some  Hun  heaven — ^maybe  they  will 
have  such  a  place  full  of  beer  and  sausages — certainly 
Christians  could  not  be  expected  to  associate  with 
them.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  could 
not  get  any  confirmation  by  some  one  on  the  ground  of 
the  Boche  having  been  seen  to  fall,  so  he  does  not  count 
officially  for  me;  if  he  fell,  as  I  think  he  did,  he  came 
down  considerably  in  his  own  lines.    I  wish  I  could 


114  THE  WAY  OF  THE   EAGLE 

have  gotten  him  at  the  start  for  he  then  would  have 
fallen  in  our  lines,  and  the  machine  was  one  of  the 
new  type.  Mais  si  le  Boche  est  mort,  c'est  la  premiere 
chose.*  As  the  Frenchmen  say  when  they  bag  one 
''Un  moins  qui  mange  la  soupe  ce  soir."  f  If  that  Boche 
ever  did  get  down  alive  I  am  sure  in  my  own  mind  that 
he  is  at  least  at  present  sojourning  in  the  hospital. 
My  manoeuvring  worked  out  all  right  this  time  and 
if  I  can  catch  another  like  that  and  do  not  get  him 
beyond  question,  I  shall  promptly  admit  that  I  am  a 
punk  aviator. 

The  next  day  I  was  out  on  another  expedition  with 
one  of  the  Heutenants.  We  ran  into  a  regular  fleet  of 
Hun  machines,  there  were  five  of  the  huge  Gotha 
bombers  which  carry  three  or  four  men  each  and 
about  eighteen  single-seaters  protecting  them.  The 
lieutenant  has  been  in  the  aviation  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war  and  said  he  had  never  seen  so  many  Huns 
at  once.  He  tried  to  get  a  shot  at  the  Gothas  and  in 
so  doing  flew  directly  under  five  Albatross  single-seaters 
whom  he  entirely  failed  to  see.  I  was  some  eight 
hundred  yards  behind  him  at  the  time  for  he  was  flying 
one  of  the  new  220  H.  P.  Spads  such  as  the  one  I  am 
about  to  get  and  when  he  had  put  on  full  speed  in  order 
to  attack  the  Gothas,  he  left  my  old  bus  far  behind. 
I  saw  the  Huns  coming  down  on  my  companion  and 
followed  him  as  fast  as  I  could  but  they  attacked  him 
before  I  could  even  get  within  long  range  of  them. 
Luckily  for  him  however  they  began  shooting  too  far 
away,  put  a  couple  of  bullets  through  his  wings  and 
warned  him.    He  promptly  stood  on  his  nose  and 

*  But  if  the  Boche  is  dead,  that  is  the  main  thing, 
t  One  less  who  eats  supper  this  evening. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  115 

dove  vertically  for  six  thousand  feet  with  his  motor  at 
extreme  high  speed.  I  never  saw  a  machine  go  down 
so  fast  before  and  it  is  a  wonder  he  did  not  pull  his 
wings  off.  I  think  he  would  have  in  anything  but  a 
Spad.  As  it  was,  he  stretched  all  the  bracing  wires 
between  his  wings  out  of  tension  and  bent  the  wings 
themselves  back  an  inch  or  two  so  that  the  whole 
plane  had  to  be  taken  apart  and  re-regulated  before  he 
could  fly  it  again.  When  I  saw  that  the  lieutenant 
had  escaped  I  pulled  out  myself,  for  the  five  Huns  who 
had  jmnped  on  him  had  not  followed  him  down,  and 
being  still  above  me,  there  was  not  much  that  I  could 
do.  Looked  around  for  some  Hun  who  did  not  have 
so  many  friends  with  him  but  seeing  nothing  better 
than  another  group  of  five  below  me  thought  I  would 
have  a  try  at  them.  Being  by  myself  I  had  to  keep 
above  them  and  could  not  get  a  close  shot  but  took  a 
crack  at  the  rear  man  anyhow  and  at  least  succeeded 
in  making  him  sore.  When  I  started  to  shoot  the 
Boches  turned  and  then  as  I  pulled  up  above  and  to 
one  side  of  them,  the  Hun  at  whom  I  had  been  shoot- 
ing, sat  his  machine  back  on  her  tail  and  took  a  shot 
at  me.  I  was  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from 
him  and  flying  at  right  angles  to  him,  a  most  difficult 
shot,  but  at  that  he  managed  to  put  a  bullet  through 
the  side  of  my  plane  which  missed  my  foot  by  two 
inches  and  brought  up  in  the  bed  of  the  motor  with  a 
thud.  It  did  not  break  anything  however  and  I  dug  it 
out  with  my  knife  when  I  got  home. 

Since  then  I  have  not  flown  over  the  lines,  due  partly 
to  bad  weather  and  also  to  my  trip  to  Paris.  The 
Httle  delay  here  is  certainly  worth  it  to  get  such  a  good 
machine.    I  shall  be  much  safer  in  it  for  it  will  fly 


116  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

faster  than  anything  the  Huns  have,  will  climb  higher, 
and  much  more  quickly  than  my  old  one,  and  mounts 
two  machine  guns  of  an  improved  type,  thereby 
greatly  reducing  the  chance  of  gun  jams.  With  it  and 
any  kind  of  weather  I  certainly  hope  that  I  shall  soon 
be  able  to  write  you  of  a  Boche  that  goes  down  and 
stays  down  ofl&cially. 

Bergues.  Nov.  27th,  1917. 
My  trip  back  from  Paris  was  most  interesting,  but 
rather  too  eventful  for  comfort,  considering  it  was  an 
ordinary  cross-country  flight,  with  no  Huns  to  compli- 
cate matters.  I  came,  as  I  told  you  I  would,  by  way 
of  the  front,  going  from  Paris  to  Compiegne,  and  then 
over  the  territory  evacuated  last  spring.  The  battle- 
field of  the  Somme  looks  much  Hke  our  own  sector 
here,  villages,  fields,  trees,  everything  blown  to  atoms, 
except  the  Somme  is  more  extensive,  and  one  flies  for 
miles  and  miles  over  this  sort  of  country.  I  do  not 
think,  however,  from  the  look  I  had  at  it  that  the 
Sonune  wreck  is  quite  as  complete,  except  in  spots, 
as  that  here,  for  the  fighting  there,  terrific  as  it  was, 
was  not  as  long  drawn  out  as  it  has  been  here,  and  the 
country  is  not  nearly  so  low  and  wet.  A  marsh  is  a 
dreary  sort  of  a  place  at  best,  unless  it  happens  to  be 
full  of  ducks.  I  passed  the  scene  of  the  recent  Enghsh 
advance  before  Cambrai,  and  could  see  the  guns  blaz- 
ing away,  although  I  did  not  go  very  close.  Not  hav- 
ing as  yet  any  guns  on  my  machine,  I  was  naturally 
not  anxious  to  fall  in  with  some  Boches.  That  ad- 
vance by  the  British  was  certainly  a  great  stroke  and 
will  I  hope  tend  to  relieve  the  tension  on  the  Italian 
front.    It  does  beat  the  devil  how  every  time  the  Huns 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  117 

are  beginning  to  feel  the  pinch  they  succeed  in  pulling 
off  a  coup  of  some  sort  to  cheer  their  people  up.  Servia, 
Roumania,  Russia  and  now  the  Italian  success — each 
one  must  certainly  add  months  at  least  to  the  duration 
of  the  war. 

Everything  went  all  right  until  I  struck  Arras,  when 
I  was  met  by  a  very  strong  north-west  wind  which  very 
much  reduced  my  speed.  I  had  arrived  at  the  field 
near  Paris,  ready  to  start  in  plenty  of  time,  but  my 
motor  had  not  run  properly  at  first  so  that  I  was  de- 
layed in  getting  off  until  I  had  only  just  sufficient  time 
to  make  the  trip  before  dark.  When  I  left  Paris  the 
wind  had  been  a  little  in  my  favor  and  not  particularly 
strong.  The  trip  down  by  the  long  route  had  only 
taken  me  an  hour  and  three-quarters,  so  that  as  I 
was  returning  by  the  direct  road,  and  left  Paris  at 
20  minutes  before  three,  I  thought  I  would  certainly  get 
here  by  half  past  four  when  it  begins  to  get  dark  in  this 
country.  The  wind  however  shifted  and  became  very 
strong  and  to  add  to  my  troubles  my  motor  began  to 
run  badly,  missing  and  throwing  fire  out  of  the  exhaust, 
so  that  I  had  to  keep  constantly  watching  to  see  that  the 
side  of  the  machine  did  not  get  dangerously  hot.  Then 
I  ran  into  a  storm,  which  seems  to  have  been  bad  all 
over  the  country;  clouds,  rain  and  mist  forced  me 
to  fly  under  200  metres,  and  darkness  fell  very  sud- 
denly. 

All  this  makes  it  hard  to  find  your  way  in  a  country 
you  have  never  been  over  before,  and  in  trying  to 
figure  out  just  what  my  motor  was  going  to  do,  I  got 
off  the  little  strip  of  map  I  had  and  lost  my  bearings. 
I  had  a  compass  of  course  and  knew  approximately 
where  I  was,  but  as  my  gasohne  was  almost  gone,  and 


118  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

it  was  getting  very  dark,  the  only  sensible  thing  was 
to  land  for  the  night.  I  accordingly  searched  for  an 
aviation  field,  for  in  a  hilly  wooded  country  such  as  I 
was  over,  where  good  landing  places  are  scarce,  one  is 
very  likely  to  break  one^s  machine  in  trying  to  land  in 
an  ordinary  field,  when  one  cannot  see  much  and  there 
is  a  heavy  wind.  I  searched  for  20  minutes,  and  al- 
though aviation  fields  are  generally  numerous  behind 
the  front,  I  could  not  find  one  for  the  life  of  me.  I  have 
had  some  rough  rides  before  this,  but  this  one  beat 
them  all.  Our  machines  are  strong  and  stable,  but  the 
gale  threw  mine  around  like  a  canoe  in  a  high  sea. 
Under  such  conditions  you  will  often  strike  a  pocket 
in  the  air  and  the  machine  will  drop  so  quickly  that 
you  shoot  up  out  of  your  seat  until  pulled  down  by 
the  safety  belt.  With  a  little  room  to  spare  under 
you,  it  makes  no  difference,  but  it  is  most  unpleasant 
when  very  close  to  the  ground.  I  much  dreaded 
breaking  my  new  machine  in  landing,  for  it  is  an 
excellent  one  of  a  sort  which  is  scarce  and  hard  to  get 
and  for  which  the  captain  had  kindly  given  me  a  special 
order.  Finally  it  got  so  dark  that  it  was  no  use  look- 
ing further  for  an  aviation  field  and  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  land  without  delay.  I  saw  a  field  facing 
into  the  wind  and  in  the  lee  of  a  woods,  so  that  the 
force  of  the  wind  would  be  less,  also  some  sort  of  an 
encampment  next  to  the  field  where  I  thought  they 
would  probably  take  me  in.  I  accordingly  dropped 
into  it  with  all  the  care  I  could  muster  and  certainly 
breathed  a  sigh  of  relief  when  safely  on  the  ground  with 
everything  intact.  I  would  not  have  broken  that 
machine  for  anything  for  it  would  have  seriously  de- 
layed my  work  out  here  before  I  could  have  gotten 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  119 

another.  You  can  yourself  generally  get  through  a 
smash  in  landing  with  nothing  worse  than  a  few 
bruises,  but  a  ditch  or  a  hole  in  the  ground  is  all  it 
takes  to  turn  a  machine  on  its  back  and  ruin  it.  I 
noticed  a  weather  report  saying  the  wind  had  blown 
60  miles  an  hour  that  night  on  the  coast  and  observa- 
tions taken  the  next  morning  at  a  field  near  where  I 
landed,  showed  40  miles  an  hour,  and  this  after  the 
wind  had  somewhat  gone  down.  It  must  have  been 
blowing  about  50  miles  that  evening,  all  of  which 
goes  to  show  how  the  war  has  advanced  aviation, 
when  one  thinks  of  how  a  few  years  ago  the  machines 
were  such  that  an  ordinary  good  breeze  made  flyers 
hesitate  about  going  up.  As  soon  as  I  landed,  a  mun- 
ber  of  Tommies  came  running  up  and  then  an  officer, 
the  latter  evidently  surprised  to  find  my  machine  right 
side  up,  for  he  had  thought  that  I  was  going  to  land  in 
a  plowed  field  near  by.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  fell 
into  great  good  luck,  for  the  field  where  I  landed  was 
as  smooth  and  firm  as  a  prepared  aerodrome. 

With  the  help  of  the  Tommies,  we  pushed  my  machine 
up  under  the  lee  of  the  woods,  tethered  it,  covered  up 
the  engine  and  had  a  guard  put  over  it  for  the  night 
by  the  major  of  an  EngHsh  infantry  regiment  that 
was  resting  in  the  neighborhood.  Then  the  officer 
who  had  first  appeared,  a  captain,  took  me  in  tow,  and 
insisted  that  I  come  to  his  quarters  for  the  night.  I 
found  that  he  was  in  command  of  a  company  of  Chinese 
coolies,  who  had  originally  been  stationed  near  us,* 
but  had  been  forced  to  move  because  of  the  bombing 
they  got  from  the  Huns.  One  of  these  labor  com- 
panies is  much  larger  than  the  ordinary  infantry  com- 
*  At  St.  Pol-sur-Mer. 


120  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

pany.  This  one  was  acting  as  foresters,  working  in 
the  woods,  getting  out  the  timber  which  is  so  necessary 
for  the  construction  of  the  quickly  made  roads  across 
the  battlefield  over  which  the  artillery  and  supplies 
are  brought  up.  The  company  is  now  enjoying  per- 
fect quiet  and  they  deserve  it  after  the  way  they  caught 
it  at  their  former  camp.  That  camp  was  only  about 
half  a  mile  from  where  we  used  to  be,  and  almost  every 
clear  night  the  Huns  would  bomb  it.  No  matter  what 
else  they  bombed,  they  always  seemed  to  save  a  few 
for  this  camp.  We  used  to  watch  the  bombs  fall,  and 
wonder  how  many  poor  Chinks  went  up  in  smoke  with 
each  one.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  their  casualties  were 
heavy  and  the  ignorant  Chinamen  were  convinced 
that  the  Boches  had  it  in  for  them  particularly.  You 
could  see  them  any  clear  evening  hiking  across  the 
fields  with  their  blankets  on  their  backs  to  sleep  in  the 
country,  rather  than  stay  in  their  camp.  They  be- 
came terrified,  and  it  was  very  difficult  to  keep  them  in 
hand;  the  officers  sometimes  finding  missing  men  many 
miles  from  home.  The  officer  told  me  of  one  instance 
where  a  bomb  fell  right  through  the  roof  of  a  little 
wooden  hut,  where  four  coohes  were  sleeping,  but 
fortunately  went  deep  into  the  soft  soil  before  it 
exploded.  The  hut  went  straight  up  in  the  air  and 
the  coolies  in  every  direction,  but  by  some  miracle  none 
of  them  were  hurt,  except  one  who  had  his  back  burnt, 
but  has  since  recovered.  He  is  now  in  the  hospital 
again,  as  the  result  of  a  friendly  stab  from  one  of  his 
comrades.  Naturally  all  this  bombing  did  not  nourish 
a  very  friendly  feeling  between  the  coolies  and  their 
tormentors  the  Huns.  The  coolie  does  not  care  a  rap 
whether  Germany  is  at  war  with  China  or  England 


ESCADRILLE  N.73         '  121 

or  any  one  else,  and  I  doubt  whether  many  of  them 
even  know  it;  but  these  particular  coolies  do  hold  a 
most  vivid  and  personal  grudge  against  the  Hun  for 
having  showered  them  with  bombs  and  slaughtered 
their  pals.  The  oflScer  told  me  that  they  know  the 
difference  between  the  black  cross  of  the  German 
machine  and  the  round  cocarde  of  an  Allied.  He  men- 
tioned that  it  was  a  good  thing  for  my  health  that  I 
was  not  a  Hun  who  had  been  forced  to  land  in  their 
midst,  for  the  coolies  would  undoubtedly  have  torn 
me  limb  from  limb  and  the  officers  could  not  possibly 
have  stopped  them. 

In  a  httle  bit  of  a  hut  that  served  as  a  mess  room  I 
found  three  other  Enghsh  officers,  and  they  took  me 
in  and  were  most  kind  and  cordial,  as  indeed  are  all  the 
Enghshmen  whom  I  have  met  over  here.  These  fel- 
lows appreciate  that  we  are  all  fighting  for  the  same 
thing,  and  are  most  anxious  to  help  out  in  any  way 
they  can.  I  have  been  forced  to  ask  their  assistance 
on  several  occasions,  and  there  is  nothing  they  will  not 
do  to  make  you  feel  at  home  and  lend  a  helping  hand. 
I  found  the  same  thing  the  next  morning  when  the 
captain  and  I  walked  about  four  miles  to  a  field  of 
the  Royal  Flying  Corps,  which  I  had  missed  in  the  dark 
the  night  before,  to  ask  for  some  gasoUne,  and  tools 
to  fix  my  engine.  Immediately  the  major  in  command 
gave  me  a  motor  lorrie,  all  the  gasohne  I  wanted,  tools 
and  two  mechanics  to  fix  the  motor.  He  also  wanted 
me  to  stay  for  lunch  and  invited  me  to  come  back  for 
the  night  if  I  could  not  get  off.  On  another  occasion, 
of  which  I  long  ago  wrote  to  you,  when  I  had  another 
breakdown,  the  officer  in  command  offered  all  the 
above  things  and  besides  sent  me  home  30  miles  in  one 


122  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

of  his  motors.  It  is  this  spirit  and  the  way  they  fight 
that  makes  one  admire  them  very  much.  I  enclose 
you  another  Hst  of  citations  for  the  V.  C.  as  an  example 
of  the  way  these  Enghshmen  go  after  the  Huns.  In 
reading  these,  remember  that  they  are  the  official  cita- 
tions which,  if  anything,  understate  the  facts  and  are 
not  the  flowery  exaggerations  of  some  newspaper 
reporter. 

To  return  to  the  hut  and  the  Enghsh  officers  of  the 
labor  company — I  spent  a  most  pleasant  evening  with 
them,  sitting  about  their  Httle  stove,  and  swapping 
yarns.  One  of  them  had  an  extra  bed  in  his  tent,  where 
he  put  me  up  for  the  night,  each  one  insisting  on  giving 
up  one  of  his  blankets  for  me.  I  was  mighty  glad  of 
them,  as  it  was  cold,  and  I  thought  the  tent  would  take 
to  aeroplaning  itself  at  any  minute,  the  way  the  gale 
howled  outside.  I  also  got  three  good  meals,  as  I 
could  not  get  my  machine  ready  to  leave  before  the 
following  afternoon.; 

It  is  remarkable  what  a  collection  of  men  one  will 
run  into  over  here,  especially  in  the  English  Army; 
of  my  four  hosts  last  night,  one  had  been  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  Missionary  in  the  Malay  Peninsula,  and 
spoke  Chinese,  another  came  from  Siam,  another  from 
England,  and  the  captain  from  Winnipeg,  Canada,  with 
a  wife  from  Lansdale,  near  Doylestown,  Pa.,  where 
he  told  me  she  now  is.  The  fellow  from  Siam  could 
not  speak  a  word  of  Chinese,  and  it  was  most  amusing 
to  hear  him  cussing  out  his  coolie  boy  servant  in  Eng- 
lish, the  boy  not  understanding  a  word  of  what  was 
being  said  to  him;  one  notices  this  trait  in  both  the 
English  and  French,  when  they  can't  make  some  one 
of  another  tongue  understand  them  they  often  pour 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  123 

out  a  perfect  stream  of  talk  to  him  which  he  could  not 
possibly  understand  without  a  very  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  speaker's  language. 

Bergues,  November  28tli,  1917. 
I  forgot  to  tell  you  one  or  two  rather  amusing  stories 
about  the  cooHes  that  I  heard  from  the  English  officer. 
One  day  some  cooHes  were  loading  coal  into  a  wagon 
and  the  sergeant  of  the  gang  had  borrowed  three  Hun 
prisoners  to  help  with  the  job;  the  Huns  were  filling 
sacks  with  coal  and  were  casting  them  up  to  the  coolies, 
when  one  of  the  latter,  a  great  big  strapping  coolie, 
the  largest  of  the  lot,  resting  from  his  labor,  stepped 
up  to  a  Hun,  and  pointing  his  finger  in  his  face,  said 
''You  bloody  German,  you  no  good.  Dunkirk  Ziz-z-z- 
Boom!  !"  to  which  the  Hun  getting  his  meaning  at 
once,  replied:  "Yes  Dunkirk  Ziz-z-z-z  Boom!  Ha- 
Ha-Ha!'';  plainly  indicating  by  the  way  he  smd  it, 
that  he  was  glad  they  had  been  bombed.  He  no 
sooner  had  the  words  out  of  his  mouth  when  the  big 
coolie  jumped  on  him,  grabbed  him  by  the  throat 
and  the  officers  only  got  him  off  in  time  to  keep  him 
from  killing  that  Hun;  he  mussed  him  up  in  great  style 
as  it  was.  Another  time,  a  yellow,  dirty  looking 
Chink  met  one  of  the  other  native  soldiers,  a  coal  black 
Kaffir  boy;  the  Kaffir  looked  the  Chink  over  and  evi- 
dently decided  he  needed  a  bath,  for  he  pointed  at 
him  and  said  ''You  washee,  washee,  good!  !''  The 
Chink  looked  nonplused  for  a  minute  or  so,  and  at  a 
loss  for  a  fitting  retort,  then  he  grinned  at  the  black 
Kaffir,  and  rephed  "You  Washee,  washee,  no  good  !  !'' 
Pretty  good  come  back  for  the  Chink,  don't  you  think  ? 
If  one  could  only  draw  like  Bairnsfather,  one  could 


124  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

make  a  funny  picture  out  of  the  incident.  ...  I  hope 
you  can  make  sense  out  of  this  letter;  I  have  been  read- 
ing it  over,  and  it  seems  to  be  chiefly  a  lot  of  corrections. 
Do  you  ever  get  sometimes  so  that  you  find  the  great- 
est diflSculty  in  expressing  what  you  wish  to  say,  and 
then  the  next  time,  for  no  apparent  reason,  have  no 
difficulty  at  all  ?  I  seem  to  be  in  the  former  condition 
to-day,  so  will  call  a  halt. 

Bergues,  December  8th,  1917. 
You  already  know  that  from  one  cause  or  another, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  get  out  on  the  lines  for  some 
time,  and  when  I  finally  did  get  out  last  Wednesday,  it 
was  exactly  three  weeks  since  I  had  last  seen  them; 
the  same  old  lines,  except  a  little  more  blown  up,  for 
there  had  been  a  great  deal  of  artillery  activity  in 
part  of  the  sector.  On  Wednesday  I  started  out  at 
nine  in  the  morning  on  a  patrol,  with  two  Frenchmen, 
a  lieutenant  being  the  leader.  •  We  were  on  the  lines 
for  some  time  without  seeing  any  Huns  except  well 
within  their  own  lines,  although  once  or  twice  I  think 
I  saw  where  some  came  on  the  lines,  but  the  others 
evidently  did  not  agree  with  me,  and  the  Boches,  if 
there  were  any,  were  too  far  off  to  justify  my  leaving 
the  patrol  and  going  to  investigate.  After  a  while 
however  I  noticed  a  two-seater  of  a  type  known  as  an 
Albatross  which  was  flying  up  and  down  in  his  own 
lines.  He  was  a  long  way  off,  but  from  the  way  he 
acted  I  thought  he  was  just  waiting  for  a  clear  path  to 
slip  across  the  lines,  take  his  pictures  or  make  some  ob- 
servations, and  slip  back  again.  I  have  had  several 
encounters  with  two-seaters  in  the  same  locality  at 
about  the  same  time  of  day,  and  at  about  the  same 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  125 

altitude,  and  accordingly  kept  my  eye  on  this  fellow, 
to  see  what  he  would  do.  Sometimes  he  would  go  way 
back  into  his  own  territory  until  he  was  just  a  speck 
in  the  sky,  and  then  again  would  come  just  above  the 
lines,  evidently  see  us,  and  turn  back  again. 

Now  a  patrol  has  the  duty  of  protecting  a  certain 
sector  and  cannot  go  off  and  leave  it,  which  is  one  rea- 
son why  it  does  not  usually  offer  the  same  chance  to 
get  a  shot  at  the  Huns  that  a  voluntary  chasse  expedi- 
tion does.  If  for  instance  I  had  been  there  with  another 
man  just  looking  for  Boches  and  with  no  sector  to  pro- 
tect, the  thing  to  have  done  would  obviously  have  been 
to  fly  deep  into  our  own  lines  as  if  we  were  leaving, 
then  climb  up  over  that  Hun's  head  and  hang  around 
with  the  sun  at  our  backs,  in  the  hope  that  he  would 
not  notice  us,  and  wait  for  him  to  come  into  our  terri- 
tory. If  he  would  not  do  this,  you  could  go  to  him, 
but  it  is  always  better  to  get  them  in  your  own  lines  if 
possible,  for  you  can  then  get  a  better  shot  without 
having  to  spend  half  the  time  watching  your  own  rear, 
and  ending  up  by  being  forced  to  retreat  by  the  Boche's 
comrades  coming  up  in  force.  Once  I  left  the  patrol 
and  started  after  this  Hun,  but  he  evidently  saw  me  at 
once  and  dove  back  into  his  own  lines;  I  saw  that  I 
could  not  get  any  kind  of  a  shot  at  him,  so  decided  to 
wait  a  Uttle  longer.  I  rejoined  the  patrol,  and  we 
made  a  tour  of  perhaps  ten  minutes. 

When  we  got  back  to  the  same  place  again,  the  lieu- 
tenant had  gone  down  somewhat  so  that  the  Hun  who 
was  again  just  coming  to  the  lines,  evidently  saw  us 
some  400  metres  below  him  instead  of  on  the  same 
level  as  before,  thought  he  was  safe,  and  came  on  into 
our  lines.    My  companions  apparently  did  not  see 


126  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

him,  so  I  turned  to  one  side,  flew  directly  under  the 
Boche,  going  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  then  put 
myself  below  and  behind  him  by  doing  a  renversement. 
He  saw  me  all  the  time,  but  I  guess  he  thought  he 
could  do  what  he  wanted,  and  get  out  before  I  could 
climb  up  and  catch  him.  I  must  have  followed  him  at 
least  five  minutes,  first  into  our  lines,  then  back  above 
the  lines  again  and  then  back  once  more.  All  the  time 
he  was  manoeuvring  to  keep  me  from  getting  behind  his 
tail,  where  he  could  not  see  me,  and  doing  it  well,  for 
in  order  to  try  to  stay  behind  him  and  to  manoeuvre 
so  as  to  give  him  only  a  long,  hard,  right-angle  shot, 
I  had  to  fly  further  than  he  did,  and  accordingly  could 
not  catch  him  quickly.  I  did  get  up  to  his  level  though 
(4,700  metres)  and  when  he  finally  started  back  for  his 
own  lines,  I  got  directly  behind  his  tail  and  put  after 
him  as  fast  as  my  bus  would  travel.  When  I  got  within 
100  yards  I  tried  to  lay  my  sights  on  him,  but  being 
directly  behind  him  the  back  draught  from  his  propeller 
made  my  machine  unsteady  so  that  accurate  shooting 
would  have  been  impossible.  I  dove  down  10  metres 
so  as  to  get  out  of  this  and  tried  again.  After  my  sad 
experience  with  the  single-seater,  which  I  wrote  you 
about,  and  which  I  think  went  down,  but  was  not  con- 
firmed, I  tried  my  best  to  shoot  most  carefully  this  time. 
All  the  time  the  Boche  had  not  fired  a  shot,  and  from 
the  way  he  acted  I  think  he  must  have  lost  track  of  me 
behind  his  tail.  Anyhow,  I  turned  both  my  machine 
guns  loose  and  thought  I  saw  my  bullets  going  about 
right.  My  left  hand  gun  only  fired  about  a  dozen 
shots  and  then  broke,  the  Boche  at  the  same  time, 
giving  a  twist  to  the  right  to  get  me  out  from  under 
his  tail.     I  kept  on  plugging  away  with  my  other  gun, 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  127 

shooting  for  the  place  where  the  pilot  sits,  and  again  I 
thought  I  saw  the  bullets  going  into  the  right  spot. 
After  possibly  thirty  shots  however  my  right  gun  also 
broke,  and  left  me  with  nothing,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  Hun  started  to  join  in  the  shooting,  firing  perhaps 
twenty  shots.  By  this  time  we  were  I  suppose  about  50 
or  60  metres  apart  and  I  got  under  his  tail  quickly  to 
get  out  of  the  way,  so  that  I  could  not  see  just  where 
the  Boche  was  shooting,  but  am  sure  he  came  nowhere 
near  me.  There  never  was  a  truer  saying  than  that 
there  is  nothing  which  upsets  a  man's  accuracy  so  much 
as  having  the  other  fellow  putting  them  very  close  to 
him.  That  is  I  think  one  of  the  principal  reasons  why 
accurate  quick  shooting  is  so  important,  not  only  for 
the  damage  it  does  but  because  to  come  very  close  is 
one  of  the  best  means  of  defense,  even  if  you  actually 
do  not  hit.  At  all  events,  with  two  broken  guns,  close 
proximity  to  a  Hun  is  not  a  healthy  locality,  so  I 
turned  on  my  nose  and  dove  out  behind  my  friend, 
at  the  same  time  watching  him  over  my  shoulder  to 
try  to  keep  myself  protected  by  his  tail. 

As  I  watched  him  he  started  diving  until  he  was 
going  down  vertically  and  I  could  see  the  silver  color 
of  his  bottom  and  of  the  under  sides  of  his  wings,  with 
the  black  maltese  crosses  on  them.  It  was  a  good 
sized  machine,  and  very  pretty,  with  the  shining  silver 
paint  underneath  to  make  it  less  visible  against  the 
sky  and  the  sides  just  by  the  tail  a  brilliant  red,  this 
last  being  probably  the  individual  mark  of  his  escadrille, 
for  I  have  seen  the  same  kind  of  a  machine  before, 
painted  in  this  way.  When  he  got  in  a  vertical  nose 
dive,  instead  of  going  on  straight  down,  he  kept  on 
turning  until  from  flying  toward  his  own  lines  right 


128  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

side  up  he  was  flying  back  into  ours,  upside  down,  and 
diving  slowly  in  this  position.  This  is  of  course  a  sign 
that  all  is  not  well  on  board  and  usually  means  that  the 
pilot  has  fallen  forward  over  his  control  stick,  thus 
forcing  the  machine  into  a  nose  dive  and  then  onto  its 
back.  You  will  read  in  the  Flying  Magazines  about 
flying  upside  down  but  it  is  not  what  it  is  cracked  up  to 
be.  One  often  gets  on  one's  back  in  certain  manoeuvres, 
but  only  for  an  instant,  and  with  always  sufiicient  cen- 
trifugal force  to  keep  one  securely  in  place.  In  learn- 
ing to  loop  the  loop  however  I  have  gotten  upside  down 
for  longer  than  I  intended  because  the  loop  was  not 
done  properly,  and  it  is  not  pleasant.  You  start  to  fall 
out  and  even  though  your  belt  holds  you  pretty  tight 
in  your  seat,  there  is  a  tendency  to  grab  the  side  of  the 
machine;  then  whatever  dirt  is  in  the  bottom  of  the 
machine  falls  over  you,  the  oil,  etc.,  fizzles  out  of  the 
top  of  its  tank  and  the  motor  starts  to  splutter  and 
wants  to  stop  due  to  the  gasoline  not  feeding  properly. 
All  this  and  everything  being  upside  down,  gives  you  a 
queer  feeling  in  your  middle,  and  although  in  some 
specially  constructed  machines  I  believe  it  is  possible 
to  fly  upside  down,  it  is  not  at  all  my  idea  of  a  good  time. 
Hence  when  I  saw  my  friend  the  Hun  flying  into  our 
lines  with  his  wheels  in  the  air  I  thought  he  must  be 
pretty  sick,  but  after  my  previous  experience,  was 
expecting  every  minute  to  see  him  come  to  and  fly 
home,  while  I  watched  him  helpless,  with  two  guns 
that  would  not  work.  I  accordingly  dove  after  him, 
holding  my  controls,  first  with  one  hand,  and  then  the 
other,  and  working  with  first  the  right  and  then  the 
left  gun,  and  trying  each  in  the  hope  of  getting  one 
of  them  going,  and  taking  a  few  more  shots.    At  the 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  129 

same  time,  it  is  necessary  to  watch  your  own  rear  to 
see  that  no  one  is  after  you,  so  that  between  this  and 
trying  to  keep  close  to  the  Boche  I  had  Httle  time  to 
spare.  Pretty  soon  some  Enghsh  machines  came  over 
my  head,  which  reheved  my  mind  very  much  as  to  the 
rear,  and  allowed  me  to  concentrate  on  the  Boche  and 
my  guns.  I  worked  away  and  incidentally  said  some 
things  I  never  learned  in  Sunday-school,  but  it  is  ex- 
asperatuig  when  you  could  get  a  good  shot  and  your 
gun  wont  work  and  you  have  visions  of  what  should 
be  an  easy  victim  escaping  you.  There  was  nothing 
to  do  though  in  this  case,  for  upon  returning  to  the 
field,  I  found  both  my  guns  not  simply  jammed  but 
actually  broken,  one  so  that  it  had  to  be  taken  off  the 
machine  and  replaced.  ^ 

While  trying  to  fix  the  guns  in  the  air  I  kept  glancing 
down  at  the  Boche;  sometimes  he  was  on  his  back, 
sometimes  on  his  nose,  and  again  diving  almost  nor- 
mally, which  was  what  made  me  think  he  might  come 
to  life.  The  machine  was  however  evidently  completely 
uncontrolled;  I  chased  him  down  almost  4000  metres, 
faster  than  I  have  ever  come  down  before,  so  fast  that 
when  we  reached  1000  metres  he  was  not  more  than 
perhaps  400  metres  ahead  of  me.  A  quick,  great 
change  of  altitude  like  this  is  most  unpleasant,  as  your 
ears  get  all  stopped  up  and  it  gives  you  a  headache, 
but  in  a  fight  you  do  not  at  the  time  notice  it,  and  this 
time  I  was  very  anxious  to  see  just  where  the  Boche 
fell  so  as  to  get  him  confirmed  if  he  did  go  down.  At  a 
thousand  metres  however  I  had  to  pull  up  and  use  my 
hand  pump,  for  all  the  pressure  had  run  out  of  my  gas 
tank,  due  to  the  unusually  long  dive  with  the  motor 
shut  down.    I  lost  sight  of  the  Boche  and  did  not  see 


130  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

him  hit  the  ground  but  after  my  motor  was  running 
nicely  again  I  flew  on  down  to  200  metres  over  the  battle 
field  and  searched  for  him,  for  he  had  fallen  several 
kilometres  within  our  lines,  so  that  it  was  possible  to 
go  down  low  and  have  a  look.  Pretty  soon  I  spotted 
him  lying  on  his  back  in  the  mud,  his  top  plane  was 
mashed  into  the  soft  ground,  but  the  rest  of  the  machine 
was  apparently  remarkably  intact  when  you  consider 
the  height  from  which  he  had  fallen.  Probably  the 
machine  flopped  over  flat  on  its  back,  or  right  side  up, 
just  before  striking,  and  in  this  way  the  force  of  the  fall 
was  broken. 

Shortly  after  I  got  back  to  our  field,  the  official  con-i 
firmation  came  in  from  the  lines.  The  pilot  and  ob- 
server were  of  course  both  dead.  The  pilot  was  I 
think  killed  by  one  of  my  shots,  or  at  least  completely 
knocked  out,  for  there  was  nothing  serious  the  matter 
with  his  machine,  and  it  fell  only  because  it  was  un- 
controlled. The  machine  gunner  was  however  alive 
after  I  had  stopped  shooting  for  I  heard  him  shoot  after 
I  had  finished.  If  he  had  been  any  kind  of  a  decent 
man,  or  in  fact  any  one  but  a  Hun,  one  could  not 
but  have  felt  sorry  for  him  in  such  a  situation.  Not 
much  fun  falling  4,700  metres,  especially  going  down 
comparatively  slowly,  knowing  all  the  while  what  is 
coming  at  the  end,  and  with  some  little  time  to  think 
it  over.  Particularly  bad  I  should  think  with  a  good 
machine,  which  only  needs  someone  to  set  the  controls 
straight  in  order  to  right  it.  Much  better  to  catch  on 
fire,  or  have  the  machine  break,  and  get  it  over  with 
right  away. 

Also  after  having  had  experience  with  the  same  thing 
oneself,  one  cannot  help  thinking  of  the  comrades 
of  these  men,  standing  around  the  aerodrome,  and 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  131 

wondering  why  they  don't  come  back,  and  again  of 
the  people  at  home,  who  after  they  get  the  report 
'^Disparu,''  keep  wondering  and  hoping  for  months 
whether  perhaps  they  might  not  only  have  been  taken 
prisoner.  It  is  a  brutal  business  at  best,  but  when 
you  stop  to  think  for  a  moment  of  what  these  Huns 
have  done,  of  the  horrors  they  have  committed,  of  the 
suffering  they  have  brought  on  innocent  people,  and  of 
the  milhons  of  men  dead  before  their  time,  all  because 
of  them,  you  don't  feel  much  sjnnpathy  for  the  indi- 
vidual but  rather  look  forward  to  the  time  when  you 
can  perhaps  bag  another. 

We  had  a  most  unpleasant  accident  here  on  Thanks- 
giving Day.  There  is  a  French  Squadron  of  Voisin 
night  bombers  stationed  on  our  flying  field,  and 
although  they  only  cross  the  fines  at  night,  they  do 
considerable  practice  flying  during  the  day  time.  On 
Thanksgiving  Day  afternoon  one  of  their  machines 
was  going  up  for  a  practice  flight  at  the  same  time 
that  a  patrol  from  this  group  was  leaving  the  ground 
for  a  flight  over  the  fines.  There  was  not  much  wind 
at  the  time,  but  what  there  was  of  it  was  coming  from 
the  West,  so  that  all  machines  leaving  the  field  should 
have  done  so  facing  in  that  direction.  To  do  this, 
however,  the  Voisin  would  have  had  to  roU  on  the 
ground  all  the  way  across  the  field,  and  to  save  him- 
self this  trouble  the  pilot  started  from  just  in  front  of 
his  hangar  flying  South.  A  Spad  was  leaving  the 
ground  at  the  same  time,  going  West.  I  was  standing 
in  front  of  our  hangars  and  noticed  the  two  machines 
approaching  each  other  at  right  angles.  Even  before 
they  got  very  close  to  one  another,  it  was  apparent 
that  they  must  pass  with  very  fittle  room  to  spare,  so 
I  stopped  and  watched  them. 


132  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

The  two  planes  were  only  about  thirty  yards  high, 
and  just  before  they  came  together,  the  Spad  pilot  saw 
the  Voisin  and  pulled  his  machine  into  a  sharp  turn  in 
a  desperate  attempt  to  avoid  a  collision,  one  of  his 
guns  going  off  in  the  air  as  he  did  so.  It  was  too  late 
however,  and  the  right  wing  of  the  Spad  hooked  into 
the  left  wing  of  the  Voisin;  this  swung  the  Spad  around 
and  it  charged  head  first  into  the  front  of  the  Voisin, 
and  then  pitched  headlong  to  the  ground.  There  was 
a  terrific  crash  as  the  two  planes  came  together,  and 
the  air  was  filled  with  flying  splinters.  The  force  of 
the  collision  turned  the  Voisin  upside  down  and  it 
burst  into  flames  even  before  it  touched  the  ground. 

M and  I  were  nearest  to  the  accident,  only  about 

a  hundred  yards  away,  and  were  so  horrified  that  we 
just  stood  there  for  a  second  with  our  mouths  open, 
too '  startled  to  move.    Then  we  dashed  across  the 

field  to  the  wreck,  and  M got  his  shoulder  under 

the  body  of  the  Voisin  and  raised  it  up,  while  some 
of  the  Frenchmen  and  I  dragged  the  men  out  of  the 
blazing  machine.  There  had  been  three  men  in  it, 
two  of  whom  were  still  in  the  body  of  the  plane  and 
as  the  wind  was  blowing  the  flames  towards  the  rear, 
it  was  possible  to  get  at  the  place  where  these  men 
were.  We  dragged  the  pilot  out,  but  his  head  was 
crushed,  and  he  was  obviously  beyond  helping.  Then 
we  dragged  the  observer  out,  and  he  was  burning  from 
head  to  foot,  a  bursting  gasoline  tank  having  evidently 
thrown  its  contents  over  him.  The  flames  were  shoot- 
ing up  two  feet  in  the  air  from  the  man's  clothing. 
I  jerked  off  a  heavy  sweater  which  I  was  wearing,  and 
dropping  on  my  knees  beside  him  managed  to  put 
most  of  the  fire  out,  by  rubbing  him  over  with  the 


il 


■a 


•  •  • 

•  •  •    •< 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  133 

sweater,  using  it  as  a  sort  of  a  sponge.  The  poor  fel- 
low's face  and  hands  were  burned  black,  and  as  we  tore 
his  clothes  off,  some  very  bad  burns  appeared  over 
his  ribs  and  on  other  parts  of  his  body. 

While  we  were  working  on  the  observer,  I  happened 
to  glance  up  and  caught  sight  of  the  third  occupant 
of  the  Voisin,  a  mechanic.  He  had  been  thrown  out 
of  the  body  of  the  machine  and  as  it  lay  on  its  back, 
his  feet  were  caught  under  the  top  wing,  and  his  ankles 
apparently  broken  off.  His  arms  had  fallen  over  some 
of  the  wires  and  this  held  him  erect  as  though  he  were 
standing  up.  The  propeller  of  the  Spad  had  evidently 
struck  him  in  the  face  and  had  cut  off  the  lower  part 
of  his  jaw.  His  head  was  supported  by  some  part  of 
the  machine  and  thus  held  in  a  natural  position,  and 
he  stood  there  with  his  eyes  wide  open,  staring  at  us, 
just  as  though  he  were  alive.  The  place  where  he  was 
caught  was  just  behind  the  wings  of  the  plane  and 
right  in  the  middle  of  the  fire.  The  whole  machine 
was  a  blazing  furnace,  and  it  was  impossible  to  reach 
him.  He  was  quite  obviously  dead  anyhow,  so  it  would 
have  done  no  good,  and  we  had  to  watch  him  burn  up 
for  all  the  world  like  a  living  man  being  burned  at  the 
stake,  and  a  more  gruesome  sight  I  hope  never  to  see. 

The  wreck  of  the  Spad  was  lying  a  little  off  to  one 
side,  and  had  not  caught  fire,  but  as  we  dragged  the 
pilot  out,  a  man  whom  I  know  very  well,  he  certainly 
looked  as  though  his  days  were  ended,  for  his  face  was 
ghostly  pale  and  smeared  all  over  with  blood.  It 
turned  out  afterwards,  however,  that  he  was  hardly 
hurt  at  all,  just  shaken  up  and  a  couple  of  holes  punched 
in  his  cheeks.  In  a  week  he  was  out  of  the  Hospital 
and  back  with  his  squadron,  as  well  as  ever.     The 


134  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

last  I  heard  of  the  observer  whom  we  dragged  out  of 
the  burning  Voism,  he  was  very  sick,  but  was  expected 
to  recover. 

A  sight  such  as  the  above  and  the  sickening  smell  of 
roasting  human  flesh  that  goes  with  it,  goes  a  long  way 
to  impress  upon  one  the  absolute  necessity  of  constant 
watchfulness  when  leaving  or  landing  upon  an  aero- 
drome, and  the  importance  of  the  strict  enforcement 
of  the  rules  of  the  flying  field. 

Bekgues,  December  9th,  1917. 
You  said  in  your  last  letter  that  you  do  not  wonder 
that  the  French  and  English  are  tired  of  the  war,  and 
that  they  are  entitled  to  rest  after  all  they  have  been 
through.  Of  course  they  are  sick  of  it  and  they  have 
had  a  very  hard  time,  but  that  hardly  seems  a  suffi- 
cient reason  for  our  not  going  after  the  Boche  and 
trying  to  finish  the  war.  I  suppose  you  refer  to  my 
criticism  of  the  attitude  one  sometimes  sees  which  is 
typified  by  the  question,  "When  is  the  war  going  to 
be  over?"  As  though  there  was  nothing  to  be  done 
about  it,  a  sort  of  a  '^When  is  it  going  to  stop  raining?" 
attitude  instead  of  asking  "How  soon  can  we  finish 
it?"  The  French  have  done  much  and  done  well, 
England  has  done  and  suffered  much,  and  so  will  we 
before  we  are  through,  but  how  about  the  Hun?  He 
is  fighting  a  lot  of  nations  and  has  suffered  in  his  home 
life  much  more  than  any  of  the  great  Allies,  but  he  is 
still  going  strong.  The  answer  is  forty  years  of  train- 
ing and  preparation,  combined  with  splendid  system 
and  conservation  of  energy,  but  even  so  it  seems  to 
me  that  he  has  more  cause  to  be  tired  than  we  have. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  135 

Dunkirk.    Dec.  24, 1917. 

The  Group  moved  away  from  here  two  weeks  ago 
and  I  should  have  gone  with  it  but  have  been  held  over 
by  a  succession  of  troubles  with  my  machine,  coupled 
with  some  very  bad  weather. 

Our  new  sector  of  the  front  will  be  in  the  famous 
'^Chemin  des  Dames"  region  on  the  Aisne,  where  the 
French  made  their  last  advance  a  month  or  so  ago. 
It  will  be  a  rehef  to  get  away  from  this  flat,  uninterest- 
ing region  where  we  have  been  so  long,  and  to  miss 
some  of  the  fog  and  dampness  that  come  in  from  the 
sea.  The  weather  where  the  group  now  is*  should  be 
much  more  favorable  for  our  work,  and  according  to  all 
accounts  the  sector  presents  much  better  chances  to 
get  a  shot  at  the  Boche.  I  went  there  by  train  a  few 
days  ago  while  waiting  for  my  machine  to  be  repaired 
and  the  day  I  was  there  a  Hun  machine  similar  to  the 
one  I  brought  down  came  over  our  mess  and  that  is 
20  kilometres  behind  the  lines. 

He  was  of  course  very  high,  but  was  all  alone  and 
would  have  offered  a  splendid  chance  had  one  been 
up  there.  If  you  can  catch  a  Boche  Hke  this  you  have 
all  the  time  you  want  to  manoeuvre,  can  attack  with- 
out fear  of  interference  by  other  machines,  and  if  you 
miss  him  the  first  time  can  go  after  him  again.  Such 
opportunities  were  very  rare  in  our  old  sector,  but  in 
the  new,  from  what  I  hear,  they  are  much  more  fre- 
quent, and  even  on  the  Hues  single  Huns  or  small 
groups  are  much  oftener  met  with.  These  photo- 
graphic and  dayUght  bombing  machines  which  pene- 
trate far  behind  the  lines,  rely  largely  on  their  great 
height  for  protection.  The  one  we  saw  the  other  day 
*  At  Chaudun,  about  six  miles  south  of  Soissons. 


136  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

had  two  French  machines  after  him,  and  we  watched 
them  try  to  get  him,  but  he  was  evidently  too  far 
above  them  and  escaped  without  their  doing  more 
than  worry  him  a  Httle.  Such  Huns  are  usually  be- 
tween 16,000  and  20,000  feet,  generally  nearer  the  latter 
figure.  Down  low,  a  thousand  feet  is  for  a  good 
machine  only  a  matter  of  perhaps  a  minute,  but  very 
high  where  the  air  is  thin  it  is  an  entirely  different 
proposition,  and  the  time  that  it  takes  you  to  climb 
a  thousand  feet  or  two  is  often  just  the  time  the  Hun 
needs  in  order  to  escape.  Obviously  the  thing  to  do 
is  to  be  there  when  they  come  along,  and  if  possible  be 
over  them. 

As  I  have  told  you  before,  aviation  de  chasse  resem- 
bles in  many  respects  other  kinds  of  hunting;  for  in- 
stance, the  pursuit  of  the  festive  duck.  I  have  noticed 
that  successful  Hun  hunters  often  owe  their  success 
to  the  same  qualities  which  go  to  make  a  successful 
duck  hunter,  that  is,  patience  and  knowing  where  the 
birds  use,  so  to  speak.  I  know  that  many  of  the  best 
chances  I  have  had  I  have  gotten  at  the  same  time  of 
day,  the  same  altitude  and  approximately  the  same 
locality;  chances  at  machines  which  I  had  noticed 
tried  to  do  a  certain  kind  of  work,  such  as  taking  pic- 
tures when  the  light  was  most  favorable.  I  went  and 
laid  for  them,  and  wish  I  could  have  the  same  chances 
over  again,  for  I  think  I  could  bring  down  some  of 
them  which  in  my  first  attempt  I  hit,  but  let  get  away 
from  me.  Reminds  me  again  of  my  beginnings  of 
shooting  on  the  river,  and  how  well  I  remember  the 
fine  shots  I  used  to  make  a  bungle  of.  When  I  get  to 
our  new  sector  I  shall  try  to  find  out  something  of  the 
habits  of  these  birds  and  go  up  and  lay  for  them  when 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  137 

the  weather  is  favorable.  The  country  to  which  we 
have  moved  is  very  pretty,  with  woods,  and  streams, 
and  roUing  hills,  and  a  seeming  possibiHty  of  many 
interesting  things  to  be  discovered  on  walks  through 
the  country  when  the  weather  is  unfavorable  for  fly- 
ing. When  I  arrived,  it  was  all  very  picturesque  in 
a  mantle  of  snow,  with  every  tree  and  bush  a  beautiful 
bit  of  lace-work,  each  separate  twig  outlined  by  the 
soft  snow  and  frost  with  which  it  was  covered. 

Father  in  his  letter  wonders  if  it  is  very  cold  high 
in  the  air  at  this  time  of  year.  It  is  bitter,  and  you 
notice  the  difference  between  now  and  summer  time, 
although  it  is  not  nearly  so  pronounced  as  on  the 
ground.  Any  water  jumping  out  of  your  radiator,  for 
instance,  freezes  at  once,  although  it  will  also  do  this 
in  summer  very  high  up.  I  have  never  suffered  from 
cold,  however,  as  my  rig  is  very  good  and  entirely 
covers  my  face.  The  Spad,  which  I  have  always  flown 
on  the  front,  is  probably  as  warm  as  any  machine,  par- 
ticularly the  new  model,  which  is  so  arranged  as  to 
give  you  the  benefit  of  much  of  the  heat  from  the 
motor. 

Paeis.    Jan.  7th,  1918. 

As  you  know  from  my  letters,  the  work  that  I  have 
been  able  to  do  in  the  past  six  weeks  has  amounted  to 
almost  nothing,  which  makes  me  particularly  sick  when 
I  think  that  I  might  in  that  time  have  gone  home 
and  been  back  again.  I  am  now  in  Paris,  having  come 
down  to  see  about  the  transfer  to  the  American  Army, 
and  when  I  went  to  Headquarters  I  found  that  my 
release  from  the  French  service  had  gone  through,  and 
my  commission  in  the  American  was  ready  and  all  I 
need  do  to  become  a  U.  S.  officer  is  to  take  the  oath. 


138  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

The  Colonel  who  will  be  my  chief  was,  he  said,  just 
on  the  point  of  sending  for  me,  and  wanted  me  to  leave 
my  escadrille  at  once,  but  I  succeeded  in  persuading 
them  not  to  make  me  do  this,  as  I  shall  explain.  After 
a  man  has  been  at  the  front  for  three  or  four  months 
I  think  he  gets  in  a  position  where  he  can  in  perhaps  a 
month's  time,  granting  the  same  opportunities  to  fly, 
learn  as  much  as  he  did  in  all  his  previous  work.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  his  work  at  first  is  so  much  lim- 
ited by  his  inexperience.  He  should  not  begin  too 
fast,  and  although  the  opportunities  are  there  just  the 
same,  they  are  not  there  for 'him.  That  is  to  say,  his 
lack  of  skill  prevents  his  taking  full  advantage  of  the 
opportunities  in  the  way  he  can  after  he  has  passed 
his  preliminary  stage  at  the  front.  Personally  I  feel 
confident  that  if  I  could  only  have  the  fights  over 
again  that  I  have  already  had  I  should  certainly,  with 
the  advantage  of  my  new  machine  and  greater  ex- 
perience be  able  to  bag  at  least  two  or  three  Huns 
instead  of  only  one.  And  it  was  these  chances  that  I 
had  been  hoping  to  get  in  the  past  six  weeks,  so  it  is 
mighty  disappointing  to  have  had  them  go  by  with  so 
little  accompHshed.  I  am,  therefore,  very  glad  to 
have  been  able  to  arrange  to  return  to  my  French 
squadron  and  stay  there  until  there  is  actually  some- 
thing definite  for  me  to  do  in  the  American  service. 

I  got  five  hundred  francs  prize  money  to-day  from 
the  Franco-American  Flying  Corps  for  my  first  Hun. 
It  seems  rather  poor  sport  getting  money  for  killing 
people — too  much  like  shooting  for  the  market.  It  is, 
however,  just  a  special  sort  of  pay  when  you  come 
down  to  it. 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  139 

Pabis,  January  16, 1918. 
You  will  probably  be  surprised  when  you  receive 
my  letter  of  last  week  on  top  of  the  cable  which  I  sent 
you  a  few  days  later.  I  tried  to  do  as  I  wrote  in  that 
letter  to  Father  I  intended  doing,  but  things  rather 
broke  against  me.  The  next  day  I  flew  back  to  my 
escadrille  at  the  front  only  to  find  that  during  my 
absence  Captain  Deullin  had  received  an  order  from 
headquarters  that  I  was  to  be  sent  with  several  others 
to  the  Lafayette  Escadrille.  This  because  of  my 
release  from  the  French  service  and  impending  signing 
up  with  the  U.  S.  As  I  told  you  in  my  last  letter, 
however,  this  order  had  been  changed,  and  instead  of 
going  to  the  Lafayette  I  am  to  do  instruction  work 
for  several  months.  When  the  Captain  received  the 
order  he  thought  I  could  not  fly  with  the  escadrille 
any  longer,  so  being  short  of  machines  he  promptly 
assigned  my  new  one  to  another  pilot,  who  took  it  out 
and  broke  it  in  landing.  When  I  arrived  and  found 
out  about  this,  to  say  that  I  was  sore  would  be  putting 
it  mildly.  It  had  taken  me  over  a  month  to  get  that 
machine  all  regulated  to  suit  myself  and  the  end  of  it 
all  made  the  loss  of  time  seem  more  discouraging  than 
ever.  The  Captain  was,  however,  not  to  blame,  and 
as  it  turned  out  was  reasonable  in  supposing  as  he  did. 
He  was  very  nice  and  offered  to  give  me  back  my 
machine  as  soon  as  repaired  (it  was  not  badly  broken) 
or  to  get  me  a  new  one  at  once.  The  Commander  of 
the  Group,  however,  called  up  headquarters  and  they 
said  they  had  no  provision  for  allowing  Americans  who 
had  been  released  from  the  French  service  to  remain 
in  the  Group,  but  that  they  must  either  stay  for  the 
duration  of  the  War  or  go  to  the  American  Escadrille 


140  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

as  ordered.  This,  of  course,  settled  it,  and  I  returned 
to  Paris  the  next  day  with  all  my  things  and  have  been 
here  ever  since. 

Last  Thursday  I  took  the  oath  to  support  the  Con- 
stitution, etc.,  etc.,  and  since  then  have  been  awaiting 
my  orders  to  report  for  duty.  They  should  come  any 
•day  now  and  in  the  meantime  I  have  been  doing  some 
shopping,  laying  in  new  uniforms,  etc.  Am  again 
staying  at  the  Continental,  have  a  nice  comfortable 
room  and  have  been  putting  in  my  time  translating 
some  notes  written  by  Captain  DeulUn  on  '^Aviation 
de  Chasse."  He  gave  me  permission  to  do  this  and  to 
add  something  of  my  own,  and  I  am  going  to  show  the 
result  to  the  U.  S.  officers  in  charge  of  the  training  of 
American  pilots.  I  think  something  of  the  sort  might 
be  useful  for  the  men  learning  to  fly;  I  know  from  my 
own  experience  what  a  vague  idea  we  used  to  have  of 
the  actual  conditions  at  the  front  which  we  were  en- 
deavoring to  prepare  ourselves  to  meet,  and  I  think  a 
student  can  learn  more  in  his  period  of  training,  and  go 
about  it  more  intelligently,  if  he  knows  as  nearly  as 
possible  what  he  is  getting  ready  for. 

I  am  in  many  ways  very  sorry  to  leave  the  French 
service.  In  December  I  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
sergeant  and  held  that  rank  at  the  time  of  transferring 
to  the  U.  S.  Army  in  which  I  have  been  made  a  cap- 
tain, but  rank  is  not  of  great  importance,  and  one 
naturally  does  not  like  to  leave  an  organization  in 
which  one  has  been  well  treated,  when  it  has  still  so  much 
work  ahead  of  it  for  which  every  man  is  needed.  Un- 
doubtedly the  immediate  opportunities  for  flying  on 
the  front  would  have  been  greater,  had  I  remained 
with  the  French,  but  I  think  it  is  the  feeling  of  most 


ESCADRILLE  N.  73  141 

Americans  who  have  seen  service  on  the  front,  that 
they  should  transfer  to  the  American  Air  Service,  which 
is  of  course  badly  in  need  of  men  with  experience  in 
flying  under  war  conditions. 

I  have  enjoyed  my  work  with  the  French  very  much 
and  I  admire  them  immensely  as  must  any  one  who 
knows  them.  The  more  one  sees  of  this  war  the  more 
impressed  one  becomes  with  what  France  has  done 
and  how  much  the  rest  of  the  world  owes  to  her.  From 
the  French  I  have  always  received  the  greatest  kindness 
and  consideration,  and  after  nine  months  in  their  army 
my  great  regret  is  that  I  did  not  wake  up  a  year  or  two 
sooner,  as  I  should  have,  and  enlist  long  before  I  did. 

I  have  been  very  fortunate  in  my  squadron  com- 
mander. Captain  Deullin,  a  thorough  gentleman  and 
a  splendid  fighter,  to  whom  I  owe  a  great  deal  of  what 
I  have  learned  about  air  fighting. 

Paeis,  January  31,  1918. 
I  am  still  in  Paris  (almost  a  month  now)  waiting 
for  final  orders.  It  seems  a  great  waste  of  time,  and 
when  it  comes  to  delays  the  French  Army  certainly 
has  nothing  on  the  American.  I  am  hoping  to  be 
definitely  settled  within  a  week,  however,  and  when 
I  am,  will  write  you  fully  about  it.  The  work  which  I 
was  originally  called  in  to  do  seems  to  have  been  so 
split  up  that  it  practically  no  longer  exists  as  one  job. 
Am  doing  everything  I  can  to  hurry  things  up  as  I 
am  very  sick  of  Paris  and  anxious  to  get  started  again. 
Are  you  so  sure  of  what  you  say  about  how  much 
America  has  done  by  way  of  preparation  for  the  coming 
fight  ?  A  letter  from  Uncle  J would  seem  to  indi- 
cate the  contrary  and  what  I  have  seen  over  here  is  to 


142  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

the  same  effect.  The  preparation  in  aviation  in  which 
we  are  expected  to  do  so  much  is  certainly  disappoint- 
ing. The  difficulties  encountered  were  of  course  to  be 
expected,  having  in  view  the  fact  that  America  has 
never  herself  produced  a  single  machine  of  any  type 
which  could  be  used  on  the  front.  It  has,  I  think, 
been  a  great  mistake  to  feed  up  to  the  pubHc  all  the 
wild  tales  one  sees  in  the  papers  about  what  the  U.  S. 
will  do  in  the  air  this  spring.  Most  of  this  rot  is  writ- 
ten by  reporters  who  get  their  information  second- 
hand and  don't  know  what  they  are  talking  about. 
I  fear  the  reality  is  going  to  be  a  great  disappointment 
to  the  public  and  will  cause  a  bit  of  a  howl.  Even  the 
statements  from  men  in  the  aviation  at  home  who 
should  know  better,  show  in  many  cases  the  most  pro- 
found ignorance  of  conditions  and  fundamentals.  The 
short  article  from  the  N.  Y.  Times  which  you  enclosed 
in  your  last  letter  and  which  is  entitled  ''Aviation  has 
lost  its  romance"  is  just  such  another  exhibition  of 
ignorance.  The  writer  has  taken  certain  facts  which 
he  has  seen  in  the  papers  and  from  them  has  proceeded 
to  draw  entirely  erroneous  conclusions,  i,  e.,  because 
he  hears  that  planes  are  now  flying  more  in  groups 
rather  than  singly  as  in  the  early  days,  he  concludes 
that  air  fighting  has  lost  its  individuality  and  become 
hke  fighting  on  the  ground.  As  you  say,  our  work, 
does  not  sound  much  Uke  what  the  article  describes. 
It  is  true  that  there  is  more  team  work,  so  to  speak, 
than  formerly,  but  when  the  final  fight  comes  it  will 
never  cease  to  be  very  much  of  an  individual  matter. 
The  great  speed  of  machines  prohibits  anything  else. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE 

(103d  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.)' 


Insignia  of  Escadrille  Lafayette 
(103d  Aero  Squadron,  A.  E.  F.) 


ESCADRILLE   LaFAYETTE, 

La  Noblette,*  Feb.  18,  1918. 

Have  already  written  you  all  about  the  various  com- 
plications in  Paris  which  finally  ended  in  my  coming 
out  here  to  the  Escadrille  Lafayette,  so  shall  say  no 
more  about  them.  We  have  been  having  the  most 
remarkable  weather  for  this  time  of  year,  gorgeously 
clear  days  with  an  almost  cloudless  sky.  Until  the 
last  three  or  four  days  it  has  been  quite  warm,  but 
now  it  is  clear  and  cold.  When  I  think  of  all  the  rain 
and  fog  we  had  during  October  and  November  in 
Flanders  it  seems  a  shame  things  could  not  have  been 
more  seasonably  arranged. 

I  have  not  got  a  machine  of  my  own  as  yet,  but  yes- 
terday I  borrowed  one  from  another  pilot  and  flew 
around  and  got  a  good  look  at  the  country,  f  It  is  a 
great  relief  after  the  dreary  wastes  of  Flanders,  for  it 
is  rolling,  with  forests  and  patches  of  woods  scattered 
about  among  very  large  fields,  much  like  the  sector 
we  were  in  before  I  left  the  front  in  January.  In  fact, 
we  are  only  a  few  miles  from  that  other  sector,  and  the 
country  is  even  better  for  aviation,  for  should  any- 
thing go  wrong  with  your  motor  you  can  find  a  place  to 

land  almost  anywhere.    Yesterday  M and  I  took 

a  walk  through  the  woods,  mostly  of  pine,  and  I  am 
going  to  do  considerable  more  exploring  before  long. 
Flanders  looks  well  enough  from  the  air  for  all  coun- 
tries look  flat  when  you  are  above  them,  but  when  it 

*  About  eight  miles  north  of  Chdlons-sur-Marae. 
t  The  Champagne  sector,  between  Reims  and  the  Argonne  Forest. 

145 


146  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

comes  to  living  there,  the  sameness  and  lack  of  hills 
or  woods  of  any  size  become  very  tiresome.  As  for  the 
Boches  hereabouts,  from  what  little  I  have  seen  they 
seem  here  also  to  have  a  habit  of  coming  far  into  our 
lines  to  take  pictures  on  clear  days,  so  I  am  hoping  that 
if  I  can  get  a  good  machine  that  will  go  really  high,  a 
little  patient  waiting  may  give  me  a  crack  at  some  of 
them.  Those  high  boys  well  in  your  own  lines  and  all 
by  themselves  offer  a  great  chance  once  you  can  get  up 
to  them,  but  there  lies  the  difficulty.  Also  it  is  not 
much  fun  waiting  around  at  20,000  feet  this  time  of 
year.  Yesterday  I  flew  along  behind  the  lines  just  in 
front  of  the  sausage  balloons,  and  as  the  day  was  clear 
got  a  very  good  look  at  things.  To-morrow  I  think  I 
shall  try  to  borrow  a  machine  again  and  have  another 
quiet  look,  for  I  am  a  great  believer  in  knowing  your 
country  well  before  you  start  much  scrapping.  It  is 
a  great  help  to  be  always  able  to  tell  at  a  glance  just 
where  you  are. 

La  Noblette,  Feb.  19th,  1918. 

Borrowed  a  machine  again  to-day  and  went  out  with 

H and  another  fellow  for  a  look  at  the  lines.     It 

was  another  gorgeous  winter  day  and  one  could  see 
for  miles  behind  the  German  lines.  The  lines  them- 
selves are  very  clearly  marked  by  a  broad  belt  of 
brown,  pock-marked  earth,  from  which  the  shells  have 
blown  everything,  backed  on  both  sides  by  the  second 
and  third-line  trenches  which  show  up  very  white  and 
distinct  in  the  light-colored  soil.  Quite  different  from 
Flanders,  where  the  marshy  ground  and  dark  soil 
make  the  trenches  practically  invisible  unless  you  are 
very  low  and  where  the  first  lines  are  conspicuous  by 
a  complete  absence  of  any  trenches  at  all.    In  that 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  147 

quagmire,  trenches  are  out  of  the  question  in  a  heavily 
shelled  region,  and  the  men  just  man  the  shell  holes, 
most  of  which  are  half  full  of  water.  Here  the  condi- 
tion of  the  ground  is  better,  and  I  think  I  got  a  fairly- 
good  idea  of  the  country  to-day.     Major  T ,  who 

now  commands  the  Lafayette  squadron,  has  given  me 
his  machine  for  the  time  being,  so  I  hope  to  get  out 
soon  again. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  yesterday  morning  the  Huns 

got  a  friend  of  mine  named  L who  was  in  a  French 

squadron  which  is  stationed  on  this  field.     I  used  to 

know  L at  Avord  and  had  seen  quite  a  little  of 

him  recently  as  we  had  taken  several  walks  together. 
Same  old  story  of  getting  off  by  himself  and  not  watch- 
ing the  rear  carefully  enough.  He  was  on  the  other 
side  of  the  lines  and  three  Boches  surprised  him  from 
the  rear  and  evidently  badly  wounded  him.  He  man- 
aged to  keep  his  machine  under  control,  however,  and 
got  several  kilometers  within  our  lines,  but  when  he 
was  still  500  metres  from  the  ground  it  was  evidently 
too  much  for  him  and  he  plunged  head  first  the  rest  of 
the  way.  We  buried  him  this  afternoon  in  a  Httle 
French  military  cemetery  near  here.  The  whole  La- 
fayette squadron  went,  and  there  was  a  guard  of  honor 

of  both  American  and  French  soldiers.     L was  a 

plain  fellow  but  a  good  one  just  the  same,  who  worked 
hard  and  fearlessly  did  his  level  best,  and  I  am  very 
sorry  he  had  to  go.  I  think  I  shall  get  a  couple  of 
flags  for  his  grave,  as  I  did  for  Oliver,  if  they  are  not 
already  there. 

Later  on  this  afternoon  I  took  a  long  walk  by  myself, 
and  it  certainly  is  a  relief  to  get  some  air  and  exercise 
in  the  country  again,  after  the  weeks  in  Paris.    Shall 


148  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

write  you  more  of  the  country  and  the  people  when  I 
have  had  time  to  explore  further.    Must  stop  now,  as 

M wants  to  go  to  sleep.    Certainly  hope  I  shall 

hear  from  you  before  long. 

Hospital  at  Maillt,  March  12,  1918. 

I  have  been  laid  up  in  this  hospital  for  the  past  two 
weeks  but  regret  that  I  cannot  write  you  any  hero  ( ?) 
story  about  the  cause  of  my  being  here.  It  was  not  a 
Boche  bullet  that  laid  me  low,  no  such  luck,  nothing 
but  a  good  old-fashioned  case  of  the  mumps.  Rather 
thought  that  I  had  passed  the  age  of  such  childish  dis- 
eases, but  it  seems  not,  for  I  have  had  as  pretty  a  case 
as  you  ever  laid  eyes  on  and  a  face  shaped  Hke  a  full 
moon.  It  is  nearly  over  now,  though,  and  I  should  be 
back  at  the  squadron  within  a  week. 

You  refer  in  one  of  your  recent  letters  to  what  I 
said  about  the  English  being  so  decent.  I  suppose 
you  have  heard  tales  of  how  they  force  the  brunt  of 
the  fighting  on  their  Colonial  Troops  and  that  they 
have  not  taken  over  as  much  of  the  line  as  they  should 
have.  Such  stories  are  lies,  pure  and  simple,  and  gen- 
erally, I  think,  of  German  manufacture,  to  stir  up 
trouble.  No  troops  fight  harder  than  the  English 
home  troops,  and  if  there  was  any  comparison  to  be 
made,  it  would  be  that  they  do  rather  more  than  their 
share.  As  for  England's  effort  in  the  war  in  general, 
all  one  need  do  is  to  consider  the  magnitude  of  her 
operations  in  Egypt,  and  Mesopotamia,  Palestine,  and 
S.  Africa — all  in  addition  to  her  enormous  part  on  the 
western  front  and  to  the  work  of  her  Navy.  We  may 
sometimes  not  admire  her  methods,  because  we  think 
they  are  not  always  the  best  calculated  to  produce 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  149 

results,  but  no  one  can  question  that  she  has  and  is 
doing  her  best,  and  the  nerve  and  spirit  of  the  EngHsh 
fighting  man  is  above  criticism. 

Do  not  pin  too  much  faith  on  the  reports  you  see  of 
internal  troubles  in  Germany.  To  me  they  seem  to 
mean  little  or  nothing,  and  I  should  not  be  at  all  sur- 
prised if  they  were  purposely  put  out  by  the  German 
Government.  The  Allies  are  entirely  too  fond  of  tak- 
ing comfort  from  such  reports  and  thinking  that  all 
they  have  to  do  is  to  hang  on  and  wait  for  the  end. 
This  is  just  what  Germany  wants  them  to  do — that  is, 
take  it  easy  while  she  makes  use  of  the  time  to  get 
ready  and  hit  another  blow.  When  one  considers  how 
completely  the  Government  controls  the  German  Press, 
it  seems  foolish  to  believe  that  anything  emanates  from 
Germany  which  is  not  meant  to.  With  the  Russian 
muddle  I  think  the  end  never  looked  further  away. 

P.  S. — Have  been  reading  this  epistle  over  and 
what  I  said  about  the  English  reminds  me  that  we  can 
hardly  criticize  them  on  matters  of  management  after 
what  I  have  seen  of  our  own  forces  over  here,  and  after 
all  the  talk  we  heard  about  how  strong  the  Americans 
would  be  on  this  score!  Have  seen  some  interesting 
and  also  some  disheartening  things,  since  I  entered  the 
U.  S.  A.,  but  being  an  officer  I  suppose  I  should  say 
nothing. 

La  Noblette,  March  19,  1918. 

Here  I  am  back  at  the  squadron  again  and  very 
glad  to  be  here  and  out  of  the  hospital,  as  I  had  no 
fun  there  at  all,  and  was  very  much  fed  up  with  the 
place. 

R had  a  narrow  escape  here  the  other  day.    I 

have  written  to  you  before  about  him  and  he  is  in  my 


150  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

estimation  the  best  man  in  this  outfit,  the  kind  of  an 
American  of  whom  we  may  be  proud.  There  is  none 
braver  than  he,  and  as  I  recounted  to  you  in  one  of 
my  letters  last  summer,  his  bravery  very  nearly  cost 
him  his  life  when  he  first  went  to  the  front  as  a  flyer.  I 
think  he  went  a  bit  too  strong  at  first  but  has  been 
taking  better  care  of  himself  lately,  that  is,  until  a  few 
days  ago,  when  he  must  have  had  a  brainstorm.  That 
he  is  here  to-day  to  tell  the  tale  is  only  due  to  his  own 
skill  and  more  particularly  to  the  Goddess  of  Good 

Fortune.     R was  on  for  a  patrol,  and  when  he 

started  noticed  that  for  some  reason  he  could  not  get 
his  machine  off  the  ground  within  the  usual  distance. 
He  had  to  shut  off  his  motor  and  stop  in  order  to  avoid 
running  into  the  woods  at  the  end  of  the  field.  In- 
stead of  at  once  coming  back  to  the  hangar  and  exam- 
ining his  machine  to  see  what  was  wrong,  what  does 
he  do  but  turn  around  on  the  ground  and  roll  to  the 
extreme  end  of  the  field  where  he  could  get  the  longest 
possible  run.  He  then  started  off  again  and  this  time 
managed  to  get  up  and  went  on  out  to  the  lines  with 
the  patrol.  After  they  had  been  out  for  a  while  the 
leader  saw  a  clear  sky  and  an  opportunity  of  making  a 
dash  some  four  miles  into  the  German  lines  and  attack- 
ing a  captive  observation  balloon.     This  he  did  and 

R attacked  in  his  turn,  diving  almost  vertically 

on  the  balloon  and  shooting  as  he  came.  When  he 
tried  to  pull  up,  however,  he  found  that  his  elevating 
controls  would  not  work  and  his  machine  consequently 
kept  on  diving  for  the  ground  a  thousand  meters  or 
so  below.  He  tried  again  to  flatten  out,  putting  on 
his  motor  and  jerking  on  his  controls  as  he  did  so. 
This  time  he  managed  to  get  the  nose  of  his  machine 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  151 

upj  flew  back  to  our  lines  and  came  in  with  the  patrol 
after  a  full  flight  of  some  two  hours.  When  he  went 
to  level  off  in  landing,  his  controls  again  would  not 
function  properly,  and  he  ahnost  smashed  up  on  the 
field,  but  just  managed  to  get  on  the  ground  without 
breaking  anything.  During  the  entire  flight  he  flew 
with  his  controls  out  of  their  usual  positioA  in  order 
to  keep  his  plane  in  flying  position.  Upon  examina- 
tion of  the  machine  to  find  out  what  was  wrong,  it 
turned  out  that  the  rivets  which  fasten  the  elevating 
planes  to  the  controls  had  sheared  off  so  that  the  only 
thing  that  was  holding  them  was  that  the  joint  was  a 
little  stiff  and  gummed  with  paint.  As  it  was,  the 
joint  slipped  about  and  threw  the  controls  out  of  posi- 
tion. It  would  be  hardly  possible  to  have  a  closer 
shave  than  this  and  to  go  up  in  the  first  place  when 
one  knows  that  the  controls  are  not  functioning  prop- 
erly is  pure  madness.    I  told  R so,  for  if  any  one 

has  to  be  killed,  R would  be  about  the  last  man 

that  I  would  want  to  see  go.    They  did  not  get  the 

balloon  and  when  I  asked  R if  he  was  tired  of  life 

he  laughed  and  said  '^No,  but  I  made  the  Boches  pull 
their  old  balloon  down  anyhow.*'  We  have  now  cor- 
rected and  reinforced  the  construction  of  the  tails  of 
the  machines,  so  that  the  same  thing  cannot  occur 
again. 

You  asked  in  one  of  your  letters  about  Stewart 
Walcott,  who  was  killed  in  December.  I  knew  him  at 
Avord  and  he  was  an  extremely  nice  fellow,  one  of  the 
best  of  the  Americans  in  the  Franco-American  Flying 
Corps.  Unfortunately,  it  is  among  this  class  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  losses  have  occurred.  The  an- 
swer is  simple — they  do  their  best  and  fight. 


152  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Speaking  of  close  calls,  such  as  that  of  R 's,  I 

think  many  pilots  do  not  take  them  enough  to  heart. 
It  is  all  very  well  not  to  brood  over  such  things  and 
let  them  get  on  your  nerves  but  at  the  same  time  there 
is  no  reason  why  one  should  not  learn  and  profit  by 
them.  Many  men  when  they  have  a  narrow  escape 
of  one  kind  or  another  seem  to  quickly  forget  it  just 
because  they  "got  away  with  it"  without  coming  to 
grief.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  a  good  idea  to  let  such 
an  experience  sink  in  and  try  to  always  thereafter  take 
every  possible  precaution  against  its  happening  again. 
One  cannot  keep  too  close  an  eye  on  machines  no  mat- 
ter how  good  they  are  supposed  to  be  or  how  much 
confidence  one  may  have  in  the  skill  and  care  of  one's 
mechanics.  I  know  I  have  always  tried  to  personally 
examine  any  machine  I  have  flown,  to  the  extent  of 
sometimes  almost  making  the  mechanics  in  charge  feel 
that  I  did  not  trust  them.  If  they  are  any  good,  how- 
ever, they  understand  when  you  explain  your  reasons 
to  them  and  tell  them  that  you  would  always  do  the 
same  thing,  for  your  own  personal  satisfaction,  even 
if  you  knew  that  a  dozen  of  the  best  mechanics  in  the 
land  had  just  examined  every  bolt  in  the  machine. 

People  talk  of  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in 
aviation  and  that  will  be  made,  and  say  that  the  day 
is  coming  when  it  will  be  as  safe  as  automobiling. 
They  don't  know  what  they  are  talking  about  and  the 
two  cannot  be  compared.  In  an  automobile  if  a  wheel 
comes  off  or  the  steering  gear  breaks  you  perhaps  roll 
in  the  ditch  and  that  is  all,  provided  you  were  not 
racing.  In  the  air,  if  you  lose  a  wing  or  your  controls 
break,  you  are  finished,  at  least  until  someone  invents 
a  sky  hook  or  a  means  of  getting  out  on  a  cloud  and 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  153 

making  repairs.  In  the  case  of  broken  controls,  a 
skilful  pilot  can  often  save  his  neck,  provided  he  has 
some  of  them  left,  but  this  depends  largely  on  the 
inherent  stabihty  of  the  type  of  plane  which  he  hap- 
pens to  be  flying. 

La  Noblette,  March  27th,  1918. 

Have  had  several  flights  on  the  lines  since  last  writ- 
ing, but  every  time  I  go  out  things  seem  to  be  very 
quiet  and  I  have  not  had  a  shot  at  a  Boche  yet.  I  led 
a  patrol  this  morning  and  saw  one  two-seater  fooling 
around  low  down  far  within  his  own  lines.  We  went 
back  into  our  lines  and  got  in  the  sun  in  the  hope  that 
he  would  not  see  us  and  would  come  out  where  we 
could  get  a  crack  at  him.  Had  no  luck,  however,  for 
every  time  we  got  anywhere  near  him  he  would  beat 
it  back  into  his  Hues  so  far  that  it  was  impossible  to 
follow  him  with  any  chance  of  success. 

Yesterday  morning  R ,  another  fellow  and  my- 
self were  out,  and  this  time  R was  leading  the 

show.  We  fooled  around  for  an  hour  or  so  a  little 
inside  the  German  lines  at  about  3000  metres  where 
the  Boche  ^'Archies ''  gave  us  quite  a  lively  time.  Then 
some  clouds  came  along  at  about  1500  metres  and 

R started  into  Germany  flying  above  a  line  of 

clouds.  The  third  man's  motor  was  not  going  properly 
so  that  he  was  afraid  to  risk  it  and  went  back.  All  the 
time  the  ^^ Archies"  kept  plugging  away  as  there  were 
not  enough  clouds  to  prevent  their  seeing  us.  When  we 
got  about  fifteen  kilometres  into  the  German  territory 

R dove  down  through  a  hole  in  the  clouds  and  I 

followed  close  behind  him.  I  flattened  out  at  about 
1000  metres  to  look  for  him  and  saw  him  300  or  400 


154  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

metres  behind  me.  Turned  to  go  back  and  join  him 
but  got  mixed  up  in  a  low  cloud  which  I  had  not 
noticed  and  when  I  came  out  could  see  no  sign  of  him. 
Under  me  was  a  Boche  hospital  with  a  lot  of  red  crosses 
on  it.  Their  ^'Archies"  and  anti-aircraft  machine  guns 
opened  up  in  great  shape  and  I  don't  mind  saying  that 
I  felt  mighty  lonesome  all  by  my  little  self  with  the 
front  lines  so  far  away  I  could  not  even  see  them  at 
that  height. 

I  thought  R must  have  gone  above  the  clouds 

again  so  I  put  on  my  power  and  climbed  up  but  could 
see  no  sign  of  him.    As  my  gasoUne  was  getting  low  I 

came  home  without  more  delay  and  R came  in  a 

few  minutes  later.  He  reported  that  he  had  shot  at  a 
town  and  a  small  railway  train,  but  I  did  not  see  him, 
as  I  was  pretty  busy  watching  the  air  for  Hun  ma- 
chines. There  seemed  to  be  none  out,  however,  for 
which  I  was  rather  glad,  as  should  five  or  six  of  them 
get  after  you  when  in  that  position,  they  could  give 
you  a  mighty  poor  time  before  you  could  get  back  to 
your  own  Unes. 

When  we  got  back  I  told  R I  thought  he  used 

very  poor  judgment,  for  I  cannot  see  the  use  of  taking 
chances  when  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  it. 
What  is  the  use  of  patroUing  just  inside  the  German 
lines  where  their  "Archies"  continually  shoot  you  up 
and  the  black  shell  bursts  give  away  your  position  and 
destroy  practically  all  chance  of  springing  a  surprise.  It 
seems  to  me  much  better  to  stay  a  little  in  your  own 
lines  or  make  short  excursions  into  Himland  and  out 
again,  so  that  you  are  not  much  shot  at  and  can  at  the 
same  time  see  any  German  machines  which  it  would  be 
possible  to  attack.    My  theory  is  that  you  should  allow 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  155 

a  Boche  to  come  as  far  as  possible  into  your  own  lines 
before  attacking,  for  then  you  have  twice  the  chance 
of  success.  If  he  won't  come,  that  is  a  different  matter 
and  you  can  go  after  him,  but  give  him  a  chance  to 
come. 

Also  at  the  time  of  an  offensive,  it  is  often  necessary 
to  adopt  different  tactics  and  to  push  the  air  fighting 
to  far  within  the  enemy  lines,  both  for  the  better  pro- 
tection of  our  own  two-seater  machines,  which  at  such 
a  time  are  themselves  penetrating  further  than  usual 
into  Hunland,  as  well  as  for  the  moral  effect  on  our 
own  forces  and  those  of  the  Huns.  Again,  I  can  see  no 
use  in  going  miles  into  German  territory  in  a  quiet 
sector  (so  far  as  activity  on  the  ground  is  concerned) 
just  to  shoot  at  ground  targets  from  a  height  of  1500 
metres  where  you  have  not  one  chance  in  a  thousand 
of  kilhng  anything  and  a  good  chance  of  being  brought 
down  yourseff.  You  don't  prove  anything  and  it  does 
not  seem  to  me  to  be  the  best  way  to  win  the  war. 
At  the  time  of  an  attack,  when  the  roads  behind  the 
Unes  are  full  of  troops,  etc.,  which  offer  a  good  target, 
then  is  the  time  to  go  in  and  shoot  them  up,  provided 
you  do  it  at  100  or  200  metres  height  where  you  can 
really  hit  something. 

The  "Archies"  do  not  often  bring  a  plane  down  when 
one  considers  the  number  of  machines  fired  at  every 
day  and  the  enormous  expenditure  of  ammunition, 
but  there  is  no  use  in  letting  them  shoot  at  you  just 
for  the  fun  of  it,  particularly  in  this  sector,  where  the 
German  batteries  are  more  accurate  than  any  I  have 
yet  seen.    They  come  too  dam  close  for  comfort.    A 

few  days  ago  R got  a  piece  of  a  shell  through  a 

wing  and  another  man  got  one  in  his  tail.    Yesterday, 


156  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

some  one  on  the  ground  put  a  bullet  through  my  tail, 
but  that  is,  of  course,  much  too  far  from  me  to  be 
dangerous.  Another  thing  about  low  flying  in  enemy 
territory  is  that  all  one  needs  is  to  have  the  motor 
stop  or  get  a  bullet  in  it  and  the  best  one  can  expect 
is  to  land  and  be  taken  prisoner.  The  English  used 
to  do  a  lot  of  this  sort  of  thing  and  lost  a  great  many 
men  without  accomplishing  enough  to  make  it  worth 
while.  They  sent  and  still  send  their  men  out  on 
a  great  many  "strafing"  expeditions.  "Strafing"  is 
aviation  slang  for  flying  low  and  attacking  enemy 
troops  with  bombs  and  machine-gun  fire.  At  the  time 
of  an  attack  when  the  roads  are  full  of  troops  and 
supply  trains  which  offer  good  targets,  strafing  has  a 
great  effect  and  is  undoubtedly  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance. Its  greatest  effect  is  upon  the  morale  of  the 
troops  attacked,  for  nothing  gets  on  an  infantryman's 
nerves  like  being  shot  up  from  the  air  before  he  even 
reaches  the  advanced  positions.  He  feels  that  he  has 
little  or  no  protection  against  this  sort  of  thing  and 
that  the  only  thing  he  can  do  about  it  is  to  hide.  He 
is  often  afraid  to  shoot  at  a  plane,  for  fear  of  giving 
away  his  own  position,  and  thinks  that  if  he  makes  a 
move  the  airman  will  spot  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  man  in  the  air  in  his  swiftly  moving  plane  cannot 
see  nearly  as  much  as  the  man  on  the  ground  thinks 
he  can.  Things  flash  by  so  quickly  that  small  details 
often  pass  unobserved.  The  infantryman's  greatest 
protection  against  the  low-flying  machine  lies  in  his 
rifle  and  machine  guns  and  he  does  not  use  them 
nearly  as  much  as  he  should.  When  he  does  shoot 
he  is  discouraged  because  his  fire  seldom  seems  to 
have  much  effect,  forgetting  that  the  vital  parts  of  the 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  157 

machine  which  he  must  hit,  in  order  to  bring  it  down 
at  once,  are  very  small.  To  do  this  he  must  knock  the 
pilot  out,  set  the  plane  on  fire  or  damage  the  motor  so 
seriously  as  to  cause  it  to  stop.  He  may  kill  the 
observer,  wound  the  pilot,  or  hit  the  motor  or  the  plane, 
so  as  to  ruin  it  for  further  service,  but  still  the  pilot 
may  be  able  to  get  back  to  his  own  lines,  and  the  man 
who  shot  him  will  think  that  he  missed  entirely. 

In  addition  to  this,  fire  from  the  ground  gets  on  a 
pilot's  nerves  just  as  much  as  his  shooting  upsets  the 
man  on  the  ground.  Losses  to  the  Air  Service  when 
engaged  in  ground  strafing  are  very  heavy  and  almost 
all  pilots  will  agree  that  they  would  rather  do  any 
other  kind  of  work.  A  pilot's  skill  and  experience  are 
no  protection  to  him  against  fire  from  the  ground,  and 
he  feels  about  as  helpless  as  do  the  troops  he  is  straf- 
ing. He  must  also  be  constantly  on  his  guard  against 
attack  from  the  air,  and  no  matter  how  carefully  he 
may  watch,  he  will  get  into  many  difficult  situations 
because  his  work  takes  him  far  into  the  enemy  lines 
and  low  to  the  ground,  so  that  Hun  machines  which 
may  be  above  him  can  easily  overtake  him  and  come 
down  on  his  back,  even  though  he  may  have  noticed 
them  as  soon  as  they  came  in  sight.  It  is  for  these 
reasons  that  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  strafing 
should  be  confined,  as  it  is  in  the  French  service,  to 
the  period  of  an  offensive,  for  in  a  quiet  sector  the 
dangers  to  the  aeroplane  are  just  as  great,  while  ground 
targets  being  few  and  far  between,  there  is  Httle  that 
the  aviator  can  accomplish  either  by  actual  material 
destruction  or  by  affecting  the  morale  of  troops. 

If  I  ever  get  a  squadron  of  my  own,  I  know  that 
there  are  some  things  they  will  not  do.    I  prefer  to 


158  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

take  my  chances  flirting  with  a  Hun  where  I  have  as 
good  a  chance  as  he  has.  Am  glad  to  say  that  I  am 
in  command  of  one  of  the  ''flights"  of  this  escadrille 
so  that  I  generally  lead  the  patrols  that  I  am  on  and 
can  take  them  where  I  please. 
Since  I  started  on  the  present  instalment  of  this 

letter,  R has  come  in  from  a  voluntary  patrol 

with  Major  T and  another  fellow.     They  attacked 

a  bunch  of  five  Hun  single-seaters  and  three  two-seaters. 

R shot  down  two  of  the  single-seaters  and  they  are 

both  already  officially  confirmed.  He  thinks  he  hit  an- 
other one  pretty  hard  but  there  is  as  yet  no  news  of 
this  third  Boche.  Pretty  good  work  at  that.  I  per- 
sonally get  more  discouraged  every  day.  Have  just 
been  out  for  the  second  time  to-day  and  did  not  see  a 
feather.  Worse  than  anything  else,  I  can  see  from  the 
way  my  motor  is  acting  that  it  is  not  going  to  last  more 
than  about  one  more  flight  if  I  can  manage  to  nurse 
it  through  that.  And  it  is  a  brand-new  motor  and 
machine  with  only  about  five  hours  of  flight.  It  seems 
to  me  that  every  time  I  get  a  machine  something  like 
this  goes  wrong  and  it  is  very  disheartening  after  you 
have  worked  several  days  to  get  the  guns  and  every- 
thing else  properly  regulated.  When  I  have  gotten 
out  on  the  lines  there  has  not  been  a  sign  of  a  Hun, 
and  then  the  very  next  patrol  runs  into  a  bunch  of 

them.    R seems  to  attract  the  Huns,  for  he  has 

had  any  number  of  fights  except  when  I  have  been 
with  him,  and  then  we  have  not  seen  a  thing.  Their 
fight  this  morning  lasted  almost  half  an  hour  in  all, 
with  intervals.  They  attacked  the  same  bunch  of 
Boches  three  or  four  times  until  their  ammunition 
was  all  gone  or  gims  jammed.    R got  one  and 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  159 

then  speared  the  other  seven  minutes  later.  Such  a 
fight  is,  of  course,  not  continuous,  the  machines  attack- 
ing, then  flying  off,  manoeuvring  for  position  and  going 
at  it  again. 

One  of  my  chief  troubles  with  my  machines  has 
been  that  I  have  been  trying  to  use  a  new  type  which 
is  much  superior  to  the  old  when  it  runs,  being  faster 
and  better  in  every  way.  It  has  not  proved  a  suc- 
cess, however,  being  continually  out  of  order  or  the 
motor  breaking  down.  I  am  through  with  it  now, 
however,  and  am  going  back  to  the  old  type  of  ma- 
chine that  I  had  when  I  first  went  to  the  front.  Nearly 
all  the  men  here  have  them  and  they  go  very  well, 
although  I  can  fly  rings  around  them  with  my  machine 
when  it  will  go.  Have  decided,  however,  that  I  would 
rather  fly  with  the  old  type  than  sit  on  the  ground 
and  curse  at  the  new. 

La  Noblette,  April  9,  1918. 
My  letter  this  week  must  be  brief,  as  we  are  moving 
to-morrow  and  it  is  late,  with  much  packing  still  to  be 
done.  Of  course,  I  cannot  tell  you  where  we  are 
going,  but  it  looks  as  though  we  were  going  to  get  in 
the  big  fight  after  all.  Naturally,  we  are  delighted, 
for  it  seems  that  this  greatest  of  all  battles  may  very 
likely  make  or  break  the  war  and  being  so  near,  it 
would  be  a  pity  to  have  had  no  part  in  it.  It  has 
seemed  a  waste  of  energy  and  material  to  sail  around 
in  what  is  generally  a  Hunless  sky  when  there  is  so 
much  to  be  done  elsewhere.  If  the  big  battles  on  the 
Somme  and  south  of  it  to  the  Aisne  turn  out  as  we  hope, 
I  think  there  will  still  be  a  weary  lot  of  war  to  follow, 
but  it  should  nevertheless  prove  the  turning  point. 


160  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

FisMES,*  April  13,  1918. 
Yesterday  was  another  of  the  most  beautiful  days 
imaginable  and  I  have  never  seen  the  visibility  better. 
From  15,000  feet  you  could  see  ahnost  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth  it  seemed,  and  a  large  part  of  the  great  bat- 
tlefield on  which  the  present  terrific  struggle  is  going 
on,  was  spread  out  before  us.  I  can  tell  you  this 
without  saying  anything  I  should  not,  for  this  greatest 
of  all  battles  extends  over  such  a  stretch  of  country 
that  the  mere  fact  that  one  is  in  it  does  not  give  any 
definite  indication  of  where  one  really  is.  Yesterday  we 
had  not  as  yet  had  any  definite  duties  assigned  to  us, 
so  we  got  up  a  voluntary  expedition  in  the  morning  and 
went  out  to  see  what  there  was  to  be  seen.  I  was  lead- 
ing the  show  and  we  had  not  gotten  to  the  lines  when 
the  white  puffs  of  smoke  from  the  French  ^* Archies" 
showed  me  a  Hun  two-seater  coming  into  our  lines.  He 
was  very  high  and  although  we  tried  our  best  to  climb 
up  to  him  he  saw  us  and  got  back  to  his  lines  before 
we  could  catch  him.  Just  as  we  got  to  the  lines  I 
spotted  another  two-seater  trying  the  same  trick  and 
again  tried  to  get  up  to  him  with  no  better  results, 
although  we  got  a  good  deal  closer  to  this  fellow,  not, 
however,  within  even  long  range.  As  I  have  explained 
to  you  before,  climbing  around  15,000  feet  where  the 
air  is  thin  is  an  entirely  different  part  of  speech  from 
climbing  when  near  the  ground.  It  takes  considerable 
time  and  if  the  Hun  has  a  couple  of  thousand  feet 
advantage  of  you,  he  must  be  a  long  way  in  your  lines 
if  you  are  going  to  catch  him  before  he  gets  home. 
Yesterday  we  were  out  of  luck,  as  we  were  just  getting 
our  height  at  the  time  and  were  still  thousands  of  feet 
below  the  Huns. 

*  In  the  Chemin  des  Dames  sector,  between  Reims  and  Soissons. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  161 

After  reaching  the  Hnes  we  flew  about  for  more  than 
an  hour  without  seeing  any  Boche  machines.  In  the 
beautiful  clear  air,  however,  we  did  get  a  most  won- 
derful view  of  the  country.  Not  far  away,  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  beautiful  cities  of  France*  was  under 
bombardment  and  was  burning  in  a  dozen  places. 
There  are  no  civilians  left  in  this  town  now,  I  am  glad 
to  say,  but  the  waste  and  destruction  is  sickening. 

Finally  I  caught  sight  of  two  German  machines  fly- 
ing far  within  their  own  lines  and  perhaps  a  thousand 
metres  below  us.  They  were  too  far  in  to  offer  any 
sort  of  a  chance,  so  we  went  back  a  Httle  into  our  own 
lines  and  flew  about  so  that  the  Huns  had  the  sun  in 
their  eyes.  For  at  least  ten  minutes  we  waited  and 
finally  were  rewarded  by  seeing  them  start  out  for  the 
lines,  evidently  thinking  they  had  a  clear  coast.  There 
had  been  four  of  us  to  begin  with,  but  one  man  had 
lost  the  formation  in  some  clouds  and  another  had 
had  to  go  in  on  account  of  motor  trouble.  As  we 
started  after  the  Boches,  it  was  impossible  to  always 
keep  in  the  sun,  and  they  caught  sight  of  us  and 
started  back  into  their  lines.  In  turning,  the  two 
Huns  drew  up  close  beside  each  other  in  perfect  de- 
fensive position,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  attack 
either  without  giving  the  observer  of  the  other  an 
excellent  shot.  Seeing  this  I  manoeuvred  around  them 
for  a  second  in  the  hope  of  getting  them  in  a  more 
favorable  position.  They  did  exactly  what  I  wanted 
them  to  and  one  fell  in  behind  the  other  so  that  it  was 
possible  to  attack  him  as  though  his  comrade  were  not 
there. 

All  this  time  I  had  thought  that  they  were  two- 
seater  machines  as  in  fact  they  were,  but  as  I  dove 

•Reims. 


162  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

down  to  get  under  the  tail  of  the  rear  Hun  I  noticed 
that  he  only  had  one  set  of  struts  between  the  wings 
on  each  side  of  the  fuselage.  Now  I  had  never  seen 
or  heard  of  a  Hun  two-seater  which  did  not  have  at 
least  two  sets  of  struts,  while  most  single-seaters  only 
have  one.  I  therefore  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that 
these  machines  were  single-seaters  after  all,  even  though 
they  were  larger  than  the  ordinary,  for  there  is  a  new 
German  single-seater  which  I  have  never  seen,  but  which 
is  considerably  bigger  than  the  older  type  usually  met 
with.  The  machine  also  seemed  a  bit  small  for  a  two- 
seater.  Hence  I  went  after  this  fellow  as  I  would  a 
single-seater,  diving  on  his  back  instead  of  going  under 
his  tail.  Have  not  had  a  fight  for  so  long  until  this 
one  (not  a  shot  since  December  5th,  when  I  got  my 
first)  that  I  am  afraid  I  started  shooting  too  soon. 
However,  I  think  I  must  have  had  the  great  good  luck 
to  hit  the  pilot  with  one  of  my  first  shots,  for  the  Hun 
just  kept  flying  along  in  a  perfectly  straight  line  with- 
out manoeuvring  at  all,  giving  one  of  the  easiest  tar- 
gets imaginable.  I  could  see  my  bullets  hitting  the 
machine  and  going  all  around  the  pilot's  seat,  and  no 
man  in  his  senses  would  fly  straight  ahead  with  this 
going  on.  Finally,  got  directly  behind  him,  so  that 
my  shots  raked  the  machine  from  end  to  end,  and  let 
him  have  at  least  a  hundred  of  them.  When  within 
about  forty  yards,  I  suddenly  saw  the  machine  gunner 
let  go  of  his  gun,  throw  up  his  arms  and  flop  down  out 
of  sight  in  the  body  of  the  machine,  and  so  reafized 
that  it  was  a  two-seater  after  all. 

About  that  time  a  lot  of  white  smoke  started  to 
come  out  of  the  Hun's  motor,  evidently  caused  by  the 
bullets  hitting  it,  for  the  machine  did  not  catch  fire. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  163 

Then  he  began  to  climb  until  he  was  at  such  a  steep 
angle  that  the  motor  could  not  pull  the  machine  up 
any  further  and  it  seemed  to  hang  almost  stationary 
for  a  few  seconds.  You  have  seen  a  duck  when  it  is 
mortally  shot  climb  straight  up  for  a  little,  flutter  a 
second  or  so  and  then  fold  its  wings  and  fall.  This 
Boche  reminded  me  for  all  the  world  of  such  a  bird. 
He  finally  shpped  sideways  on  one  wing  and  then 
plunged  vertically  on  his  nose,  leaving  a  long  trail  of 
white  smoke  behind  him.  I  circled  above  and  watched 
him  fall  and  have  never  seen  a  machine  go  down  so 
fast  before.  He  seemed  to  cover  the  nine  thousand 
feet  to  the  ground  in  almost  no  time  at  all.  I  watched 
him  until  he  went  head  first  into  the  ground  and  could 
distinctly  see  the  machine  all  the  time  it  was  falling, 
but  when  it  struck  it  just  seemed  to  melt  out  of  sight 
and  I  could  see  no  trace  of  it  on  the  ground.  When  a 
plane  falls  in  this  way  the  motor  generally  goes  out 
of  ^ght  in  the  ground  and  the  body  is  of  course  smashed 
to  atoms,  so  I  suppose  the  wreckage  was  too  small  to 
see  from  my  height. 

All  the  time  the  second  Boche  had  been  hiking  for 
home  as  fast  as  he  could  go  and  had  I  been  quick  I 
should  have  had  a  good  shot  at  him  also,  for  he  was 
only  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  away  and  directly  in 
front  of  me.  When  the  first  one  turned  out  to  be  a 
two-seater,  however,  it  took  me  so  much  by  surprise  and 
he  was  so  long  about  making  up  his  mind  to  fall  that 
by  the  time  I  woke  up  the  other  fellow  was  gone. 
Also,  not  knowing  the  sector,  I  thought  we  were  a 
considerable  distance  in  the  German  lines,  when  as  a 
matter  of  fact  we  were  just  over  them,  and  the  Boche 
fell  in  No  Man's  Land.    There  was  no  trouble  at  all 


164  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

about  the  official  confirmation,  for  almost  as  soon  as 
we  had  landed  on  our  own  field,  confirmation  came  in 
from  several  sausage  balloons,  the  infantry,  artillery, 
and  from  a  couple  of  observers  in  aeroplanes  who  had 
seen  the  Boche  fall.  A  report  also  came  in  that  a  lot 
of  Huns  ran  out  of  their  trenches  and  gathered  around 
the  wreck  of  their  machine  on  the  ground,  whereupon 
the  French  75's  amused  themselves  by  dumping  some 
shells  in  their  midst.  Rather  rubbing  it  in,  don't  you 
think?  I  think  I  had  a  good  deal  of  luck  with  this 
fellow.  My  machine  gun  ran  like  a  charm  and  never 
even  hesitated. 

Then,  too,  this  was  a  rube  way  to  go  after  a  two- 
seater,  for  although  it  gives  you  a  splendid  shot,  the 
machine  gunner  has  an  even  better  one.  As  soon  as 
you  run  into  one  who  is  a  good  shot  you  are  going  to 
have  trouble,  and  the  man  who  uses  such  tactics 
against  two-seaters  wfll  not  generally  last  long.  In 
this  case  I  think  the  machine  gunner  must  have  been 
hit  by  one  of  my  first  shots,  because  he  did  not  fire  at 
all  so  far  as  I  could  see.  I  don't  think  I  shall  make 
this  mistake  again,  however.  The  machine  was  evi- 
dently a  new  type  of  two-seater*  which  I  had  not 
heard  of.  It  is  rather  small,  the  pilot  and  the  ma- 
chine gunner  sit  very  close  together,  and  the  plane  is 
intended  as  a  sort  of  combination  pursuit  and  observa- 
tion machine. 

One  of  the  other  men  in  the  squadron  reported  that 
he  shot  down  a  single-seater  in  flames  half  an  hour  after 
I  got  the  two-seater,  but  we  have  as  yet  been  able  to  get 
no  confirmation.  If  he  gets  this  one  it  will  make  four 
for  him  in  a  month,  three  of  them  in  flames.    Was 

*  A  Halberstadt. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  165 

rather  surprised  that  mine  did  not  catch  fire,  for  I 
don^t  think  I  shall  ever  hit  a  machine  harder  than  this 
one,  due  to  the  very  easy  shot  he  gave  me.  I  saw  not 
just  a  few  bullets  go  into  him  but  a  regular  stream  of 
them,  and  I  don't  see  how  I  could  have  missed  his  gas 
tank.  There  is  a  great  advantage  in  setting  a  machine 
on  fire,  for  there  is  then  no  possible  doubt,  and  it  can 
be  seen  to  fall  for  miles,  which  makes  confirmation 
much  easier. 

Went  out  on  another  voluntary  patrol  in  the  after- 
noon and  tried  to  get  a  shot  at  another  two-seater,  but 
in  attempting  to  surprise  him  made  rather  a  mess  of 
it,  so  that  I  never  even  got  a  shot.  Then  a  Httle  while 
later  we  spotted  three  single-seaters  flying  far  within 
their  lines,  and  I  tried  the  same  tactics  of  waiting  in 
the  sun  for  them  to  come  out.  Waited  ten  minutes 
and  they  would  not  come  so  went  in  after  them.  I 
got  on  one  fellow's  tail  and  one  of  the  other  men 
jumped  on  another,  but  both  our  guns  jammed  after 
only  half  a  dozen  shots  or  so.  We  were  far  in  the 
German  lines  on  the  other  side  of  their  sausage  bal- 
loons, so  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  clear  out. 

In  the  morning  when  we  were  after  the  two-seaters, 
my  companion  stayed  over  my  head  and  protected 
the  rear.  He  tried  to  get  a  whack  at  the  second 
machine,  but  was  unsuccessful.  In  making  an  attack 
it  is  a  great  comfort  to  know  that  your  rear  is  pro- 
tected and  the  man  who  does  this  protection  work  to 
my  mind  deserves  a  great  deal  more  credit  than  he 
usually  gets.  On  coming  out  of  the  German  lines 
after  the  machine  fell,  their  ^'Archies"  opened  up,  but 
they  didn't  seem  to  be  as  good  as  they  were  in  our  last 
sector.    There  they  were  wonderful. 


166  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Was  looking  over  the  official  reports  the  other  day 
and  saw  an  account  of  a  most  remarkable  coincidence, 
and  incidentally  one  of  the  hardest  bits  of  luck  imagina- 
ble. A  German  machine  attacked  a  French  sausage 
balloon  so  that  the  two  observers  were  forced  to  jump 
in  their  parachutes.  They  were  coming  down  all  right 
when  the  German  machine  above  them  was  hit  by  an 
"Archie'^  and  blown  to  pieces.  A  piece  fell  on  one  of 
the  parachutes,  breaking  it,  and  the  Frenchman  fell 
and  was  killed.  That  fellow  certainly  had  no  luck  at 
aU. 

FiSMES,  29  April,  1918. 

Rien  de  neuf  ici.  Toujour  la  brume  et  le  mauvais 
temps.*  Now  my  French  has  about  run  out  so  we 
will  continue  in  the  mother  tongue.  But  ^^ sans  blag,"  t 
since  last  writing  there  has  been  practically  nothing 
but  fog,  mist,  and  rain,  with  the  exception  of  one  day 
when  it  cleared  up  for  a  few  hours.  Got  in  a  flight 
then,  but  outside  of  that  have  not  had  my  machine 
off  the  ground.  Hobey  Baker  and  another  fellow  and 
myself  went  out  and  had  hardly  reached  the  lines 
before  we  bumped  into  three  Hun  chasse  machines, 
Albatross.  I  was  leading  our  patrol  so  attacked  at 
once,  as  we  had  the  advantage  of  height.  Got  on  one 
Hun^s  tail  and  should  have  had  a  very  good  shot,  but 
after  a  few  shots  my  gun  stopped  again.  Was  able  to 
fix  it  in  a  second  but  then  the  chance  was  gone  and  I 
never  got  as  good  a  shot  again.  I  was  square  on  the 
Boche's  tail  and  saw  several  bullets  miss  him  by  inches 
but  am  afraid  I  shot  when  too  far  away.  He  turned 
under  me  and  as  I  had  fixed  my  gun  by  that  time  I 

*  Nothing  new  here.    Always  fog  and  bad  weather. 
fNo  fooling. 


*     ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  167 

dove  and  took  another  crack  at  him.  He  turned  ver- 
tically on  his  nose,  so  much  so  he  almost  got  on  his 
back,  and  dove  like  a  bullet.  It  was  impossible  to 
follow  or  watch  him  as  that  would  have  taken  me 
below  the  other  two  Huns.  This  one  is  carried  on  the 
official  reports  as  '^ probably'^  destroyed  by  me,  but 
not  confirmed.  I  do^not  think,  however,  that  he  fell 
or  was  seriously  hit,  for  if  he  had  gone  down  he  would 
surely  have  been  seen  as  we  were  just  on  the  lines. 

We  were  flying  above  a  sea  of  white  clouds  with 
just  enough  holes  in  them  to  allow  one  to  see  sufficient 
of  the  country  below  to  keep  one's  bearings.  The  fight 
began  at  about  ULQOO  ^eet  and  just  as  I  attacked  the 
first  Hun  I  looked  behind  and  above  to  see  Baker  and 
the  other  man  going  after  the  other  two.  They  had 
no  luck,  however,  as  Baker's  gun  jammed  after  about 
twenty  shots  and  the  other  fellow  was  having  trouble 
with  the  pressure  in  his  gas  tank,  so  that  he  was  able  to 
do  very  little.  When  I  looked  again  one  of  the  three 
Boches  was  trying  to  get  at  me,  so  I  left  the  one  that 
had  dived  and  took  a  try  at  this  second  one.  I  got 
on  his  back  but  that  was  about  all  the  good  it  did  me 
for  that  fellow  certainly  could  handle  his  machine. 
He  started  diving  toward  our  lines  and  I  hoped  that 
I  could  drive  him  down  low  to  the  ground,  even  if  I 
could  not  hit  him,  and  once  close  to  the  ground  he 
would  have  to  stop  his  stunts  and  either  land  or  fly  in 
something  like  a  line,  which  would  give  me  a  decent 
shot  at  him.  He  went  into  a  spiral  with  little  Willie 
doing  the  same  just  behind  and  above  him.  We  went 
down  several  thousand  feet  in  this  way,  twisting  and 
turning.  I  got  some  shots  at  him  at  close  range  but 
only  the  most  difficult  ones.    Once  when  he  did  a 


168  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

renversement  in  front  of  me  I  had  to  pull  up  to  keep 
from  running  into  him.  He  tried  to  get  above  me, 
but  as  the  advantage  of  height  had  been  with  me  from 
the  first,  this  was  of  course  easy  to  prevent. 

As  we  went  down  I  glanced  behind  me  to  make  sure 
of  not  being  surprised  from  the  rear  and  could  see 
nothing  of  my  companions,  but  two  Huns  were  circling 
some  500  metres  over  our  heads.  They  were  so  directly 
above  that  I  doubt  if  they  saw  us,  and  at  any  rate  I 
knew  I  could  dive  into  the  clouds  if  I  got  into  a  tight 
hole.  The  two  above  never  came  down,  but  having 
them  there  always  worries  you  and  distracts  your 
attention  by  requiring  too  much  watching  of  the  rear. 
My  Hun  dove  for  a  hole  in  the  clouds,  but  in  watch- 
ing the  others  I  had  gotten  several  hundred  yards 
behind  him,  and  although  I  came  through  the  same 
hole  a  couple  of  seconds  later  and  went  down  under 
the  clouds  to  3,000  feet  there  was  not  a  sign  of  him. 
Suppose  he  must  have  stayed  in  those  clouds  until  he 
was  well  within  his  own  lines.  The  fact  that  there 
were  two  Boches  above  us  when  I  was  after  this  last 
one,  making  three  in  all,  the  original  number,  is  what 
makes  me  think,  among  other  things,  that  the  first  one 
did  not  go  down,  although  of  course  a  fourth  might 
have  come  along.  My  personal  opinion,  however,  is 
that  that  first  Hun  is  now  passing  these  rainy  days 
drinking  beer  and  caUing  the  American  the  Boche 
equivalent  of  ''sale  cochon,''*  because  the  American 
gave  him  a  thrill  and  perhaps  necessitated  the  chang- 
ing of  the  wings  on  said  Hun's  ''joli  Cuckoo '^  by  shoot- 
ing a  few  holes  in  them.  I  am  sorry  to  have  gotten  so 
little  result  out  of  these  last  few  encounters  but  have 

*  Dirty  pig. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  169 

at  least  learned  a  great  deal,  I  think,  and  hope  to  be 
able  to  do  better  next  time.  My  experience  in  fight- 
ing with  single-seater  chasse  machines  has  been  very 
limited.  It  is  the  most  exciting  of  all  encounters  but 
offers  the  most  difficult  chance  for  a  decisive  victory 
and  consequently  requires  more  skill  in  shooting  to 
bring  one  of  them  down.  These  Boche  machines  were 
very  pretty,  being  clean  and  new  looking,  with  the  mark 
of  one  of  the  squadrons  of  Baron  Von  Richtofen's 
famous  group  on  the  tail  planes.  The  tails  were 
painted  in  broad  black  and  white  diagonal  bands,  and 
one  had  a  diamond-shaped  mark  on  the  side  of  his 
fuselage  with  some  sort  of  an  ''ensigne"  inside,  which 
I  could  not  make  out.  All  my  last  three  fights  have 
been  with  this  outfit  and  I  should  like  very  much  to 
get  one  of  them,  for  they  are  excellent  pilots,  supposed 
to  be  the  best  the  Germans  have.  However,  we  shall 
not  see  them  any  more  for  a  while  at  least,  for  we  are 
moving  again  immediately.  I  would  like  to  tell  you 
where,  but  of  course  cannot. 

You  want  to  know  what  we  have  to  eat  and  when  I 
tell  you,  you  will  see  that  war  is  not  so  bad  after  all, 
when  it  comes  to  eating.  For  breakfast  we  have  oat- 
meal, eggs  to  order  with  bacon,  hot  cakes  about  every 
other  day,  and  coffee  or  tea.  For  lunch,  one  or  two 
hors  d^ceuvres,  such  as  bully  beef  or  canned  sabnon 
with  mayonnaise,  or  perhaps  canned  asparagus.  Then 
some  sort  of  meat,  veal  or  steak  or  mutton,  for  in- 
stance, with  potatoes,  and  some  other  vegetable,  a 
salad,  and  generally  some  dessert,  such  as  canned  fruit 
or  a  pudding.  With  this  goes  pretty  good  bread  and 
butter.  Finally  we  have  a  demi-tasse  and  always 
plenty  of  granulated  sugar.    We  get  stuff  through  the 


170  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

French  when  we  want  it  and  also  through  the  Ameri- 
can Quartermaster;  anything  else  we  buy  outside. 
Our  mess  costs  us  150  to  175  francs  a  month.  For 
dinner  we  get  soup,  some  meat  again,  a  couple  of  vege- 
tables, salad,  sometimes  nuts  and  sometimes  a  dessert, 
finishing  up  with  coffee.  So  you  see  we  are  not  to  be 
pitied  and  you  will  now  understand  why  I  say  that  one 
of  my  greatest  dangers  is  over-eating,  especially  when 
the  weather  is  bad,  not  forgetting,  of  course,  the  ever- 
present  danger  of  breaking  one^s  neck  by  falling  out 
of  bed. 

The  '' Challenge  of  the  Present  Crisis"  arrived  last 
week  and  I  read  it  through  at  one  sitting,  as  you  sug- 
gested. I  think  it  is  excellent  and  certainly  contains 
much  food  for  thought.  I  cannot,  however,  at  all 
agree  with  the  author  in  his  prayer  to  God  to  bless 
Germany  (see  p.  54-55).  You  remember  the  picture 
I  sent  you,  '^Ne  leur  pardonnez  pas,  mon  pere,  car  ils 
savent  ce  qu'ils  font."*  The  same  thing  appHes  to  the 
methods  of  the  Huns  in  general  and  not  simply  to 
their  bombing  of  women  and  children.  During  this 
war  I  shall  kill  personally  and  help  to  kill  as  many 
Huns  as  possible,  after  it  I  shall  never  speak  to 
or  have  anything  to  do  with  one  except  perhaps  to 
tell  him  what  I  think  of  him  and  the  rest  of  his  tribe, 
and  if  I  ever  catch  one  in  my  house  or  my  office,  I 
promise  you  that  he  will  go  out  faster  than  he  came 
in,  if  it  is  in  my  power  to  make  him.  Fosdick  in  his 
book  quotes  Walt  Whitman  as  having  said  *^God  damn 
the  Turk."  I  think  the  same  prayer  would  be  even 
more  suitable  in  the  case  of  the  Hun.  You  will  say 
that  I  am  bitter.  I  am  and  I  should  be  ashamed  of 
*  Father,  do  not  forgive  them,  for  they  know  what  they  do." 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  171 

myself  if  I  were  not.  I  hate  the  Huns  but  I  do  not 
think  my  feeling  is  such  as  to  interfere  at  all  with 
such  ability  as  I  may  have  to  help  defeat  them. 

Leffrinckoucke,*  May  7,  1918. 

Our  moving  is  completed  for  the  time  being  at  least, 
so  now  I  have  a  chance  to  drop  you  a  line.  The  bad 
weather  continues  almost  incessantly  so  that  we  have 
been  doing  very  little  flying,  but  when  it  does  clear  up 
there  should  be  plenty  of  action,  for  we  are  again  in 
that  sector  where  OUver  and  I  first  arrived  at  the 
front  last  July.  I  have  had  a  couple  of  flights  over 
the  lines,  but  the  mist  was  so  heavy  that  there  was 
not  a  great  de'al  going  on  in  the  air.  On  the  first  ex- 
cursion I  did  have  one  short  flirtation  with  a  Hun  two- 
seater,  short  because  I  again  had  trouble  with  my 
confounded  gun.  The  Boche  plane  was  a  new  type,t 
in  appearance  very  much  like  some  of  the  Enghsh 
machines  and  so  marked  as  to  carry  out  the  decep- 
tion. I  started  to  let  him  pass  under  me  and  then 
noticing  the  peculiar  markings,  started  down  after  him 
to  make  sure.  Immediately  he  dove  back  into  his 
own  lines  so  we  waited  around  for  him  to  come  out 
again.  This  time  I  got  dead  behind  and  under  his 
tail  at  about  fifty  yards,  but  my  gun  quit  after  about 
eight  shots,  the  Hun  twisted  sideways  and  the  machine 
gunner  started  shooting,  so  I  ducked  under  his  tail, 
stood  on  my  nose  and  left  him,  with  the  least  possible 
delay. 

You  have  no  idea  how  hard  it  is  to  follow  the 
shooting  instructions  laid  down  in  the  notes  I  sent  you, 
that  is,  to  hold  your  fire  until  you  are  at  close  range 
*  Three  miles  east  of  Dunkirk.  t  Hannoveranner. 


172  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

and  then  to  shoot  with  sufficient  deHberation  to  be 
really  accurate.  There  is  the  constant  tendency  to 
get  ''jumpy"  and  shoot  too  hurriedly,  which  one  is 
continually  striving  to  repress.  As  for  my  gun,  such 
troubles  are  most  discouraging  and  I  have  had  my 
fill  of  them,  so  after  this  last  fiasco  I  took  it  off  the 
machine  and  put  on  a  new  one,  first  examining  every 
part  with  the  greatest  care.  Yesterday  I  tried  it  out 
on  a  target  and  it  worked  to  perfection,  firing  a  large 
number  of  shots  without  the  slightest  hitch.  I  hope, 
therefore,  that  things  will  go  better  from  now  on. 

My  other  trip  on  the  lines  was  a  daylight  patrol  at 
the  time  of  a  particularly  heavy  artillery  bombard- 
ment. For  as  far  as  one  could  see  the  guns  on  both 
sides  were  twinkling  like  the  lights  of  a  city  in  the 
distance,  while  in  between  the  black  and  white  puffs  of 
the  exploding  shells  and  the  little  geysers  of  flying  mud 
and  debris  were  practically  continuous,  as  thick  as  the 
large  raindrops  at  the  beginning  of  a  summer  shower. 
Above  the  fines  many  planes,  all  of  them  ours  at  this 
time,  with  hundreds  of  the  little  black  clouds  around 
them  made  by  the  Hun  "Archies."  The  fines  look,  of 
course,  much  the  same  as  they  did  when  I  first  saw 
them  and  wrote  to  you  describing  what  a  sight  they 
are,  only  the  devastated  area  has  spread  enormously. 
A  green  forest  which  I  wrote  you  in  the  fall  had  taken 
on  a  very  mangy  appearance,  has  now  almost  entirely 
disappeared,  until  at  present  it  is  hard  to  distinguish 
from  the  fields,  or  rather  what  were  once  fields,  which 
surrounded  it.  It  is  remarkable  in  how  short  a  time 
a  region  may  be  transformed  when  it  becomes  the 
centre  of  heavy  fighting.    For  instance,   a  village* 

*  Locre,  southwest  of  Ypres. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  173 

which  I  visited  last  fall  and  which  has  been  the  scene 
of  fighting  for  only  the  past  two  or  three  weeks,  is  now 
nothing  but  a  heap  of  bricks  and  plaster  with  scarcely 
a  wall  standing.  Last  fall  there  was  not  a  shell  mark 
in  the  town.  On  this  particular  morning  a  certain 
much  disputed  hill  *  was  receiving  a  large  share  of 
attention  from  the  artillery  and  it  looked  like  what  I 
suppose  a  volcano  in  eruption  does.  The  whole  top  of 
the  hill  seemed  to  be  exploding  every  second,  and  cer- 
tainly nothing  could  have  lived  upon  it.  In  such  a 
ease  I  believe  only  the  approaches  commanding  the 
hill  are  held. 

Not  so  long  ago  I  had  a  chance  to  visit  Reims  and 
jumped  at  it.  I  had  seen  it  often  from  the  air,  having 
flown  over  it  day  after  day,  but  had  never  seen  it 
from  the  ground.  There  are  portions  of  the  city 
which  are  not  very  badly  battered  in  spite  of  the  rain 
of  shells  to  which  it  has  been  subjected  almost  since 
the  war  began.  Until  recently  I  think  1,835  was  the 
record  number  for  24  hours,  but  I  saw  that  one  day 
a  few  weeks  ago  the  Huns  fired  something  over  3000 
shells  into  the  city.  That  was  at  the  time  when  you 
may  have  noticed  in  the  papers  that  the  city  was  burn- 
ing in  a  niunber  of  places  more  or  less  continuously 
for  a  week.  For  blocks  around  the  cathedral,  how- 
ever, the  buildings  are  completely  wrecked  and  he  a 
mass  of  broken  bricks  and  plaster  with  jagged  walls 
standing  up  from  the  debris.  Fire  has  completed  the 
destruction  of  what  the  shells  had  left.  The  cathedral 
itself  is,  I  fear,  beyond  repair,  although  it  is  not  in  bad 
shape  as  compared  with  the  buildings  which  surrounded 
it.  The  roof  is  gone  and  of  course  all  the  beautiful 
*  Kemmel  Hill,  east  of  Locre  and  south  of  Ypres. 


174  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

stained  glass  has  been  smashed  to  atoms.  There  are 
a  number  of  direct  hits  visible  on  the  walls  and  but- 
tresses and  the  whole  has  been  considerably  scorched 
by  fire.  A  good  deal  of  the  intricate  carving  and  pieces 
of  statuary  have  been  broken,  but  there  is  a  great 
deal  more  which  has  not.  The  famous  carved  arches 
at  the  entrance  (the  cathedral  faces  away  from  the 
lines)  with  their  thousands  of  httle  stone  figures,  have 
been  protected  by  sand  bags  and  seem  to  be  almost 
intact.  In  fact,  it  was  not  as  bad  as  I  had  feared  and 
may  still  remain  as  a  wonderful  monument,  although 
it  can  hardly  again  be  used  as  a  church.  The  after- 
noon we  were  there  was  very  quiet  with  only  a  few 
shells  falling  in  the  distance.  I  took  some  pictures  of 
the  cathedral  and  the  town  about  it  which  I  shall  send 
when  I  get  a  chance  to  have  them  developed.    Thought 

of  Mother  and  Uncle  J and  how  they  would  have 

enjoyed  being  there,  painful  as  it  is  to  see  the  wreckage 
of  such  beautiful  places. 

Think  we  shall  probably  see  another  big  effort  by 
the  Huns  before  long  and  this  time  we  shall  really  be 
in  it.  The  guns  have  been  pounding  away  incessantly 
for  the  last  two  or  three  days  and  their  steady  rumble 
is  plainly  audible  as  I  write.  Every  now  and  then  the 
barracks  shakes  and  the  windows  rattle  when  a  par- 
ticularly big  one  goes  off.  Our  sleeping  quarters  here 
are,  by  the  way,  the  most  comfortable  we  have  ever 
had.  We  are  lodged  in  little  huts  made  of  corrugated 
sheet  iron  and  shaped  like  a  cylinder  cut  lengthwise 

in  half,  with  the  flat  side  on  the  ground.    M ,  Hobe 

Baker,  L ,  and  I  have  one  together  and  are  very 

nicely  installed,  each  with  a  washstand  in  the  corner 
by  his  bed,  electric  lights,  and  in  the  centre  a  table 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  175 

larger  than  any  we  have  at  home,  with  books,  maga- 
zuies,  etc.,  and  an  oil  lampl  Men  in  the  aviation  cer- 
tainly have  a  cinch  while  they  are  not  flying. 

Leffeinckovcke,  13  May  1918. 

Due  to  our  moving  I  had  not  until  to-day  had  a  let- 
ter from  home  for  two  weeks,  but  at  last  they  have 
come  and  I  have  been  having  a  fine  time  reading  them 
for  the  past  two  hours.    It  is  blustering  and  raining 

outside  as  usual  and  M and  Hobe  Baker  have  gone 

off  with  an  Englishman  to  see  the  front-line  trenches. 
They  met  the  EngUshman  recently  and  when  he  came 
for  them  to-day  he  asked  me  if  I  would  not  like  to  go 
up  some  other  time.  Naturally  I  said  yes,  but  this 
afternoon  I  was  just  as  glad  to  be  left  to  myself  so 
that  I  could  drop  you  a  line  and  read  my  letters. 
Also,  as  you  know,  I  have  already  had  several  trips 
up  to  the  front  in  this  section  when  I  was  here  with 
the  French  escadrille. 

You  will  see  by  the  papers  that  a  great  friend  of 
Oliver's  and  mine  is  missing,  poor  old  Jimmie  Hall. 
He  left  this  squadron  about  six  weeks  ago  and  went  to 
one  of  the  new  American  squadrons,  and  I  had  not 
seen  him  since  he  left.  He  was  one  of  the  very  best 
men  in  this  outfit  and  I  am  deeply  sorry  that  he  is 
gone.  We  know  no  more  about  what  happened  to 
him  than  what  we  have  seen  in  the  papers,  but  al- 
though he  is  evidently  gone  so  far  as  this  war  is  con- 
cerned, I  hope  that  we  may  see  him  again  some  day. 
Jim  has  been  in  the  war  since  1914,  first  as  a  ma- 
chine gunner  with  the  English,  then  in  the  French 
aviation  and  finally  the  American.  He  was  a  long  time 
in  the  trenches  with  the  British  and  you  have  read  his 


176  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

book.  He  has  had  several  hair-breadth  escapes  so  we 
hope  that  his  good  fairy  has  not  altogether  deserted 
him  and  that  he  may  have  pulled  through  this  last 
and  be  only  a  prisoner.  I  certainly  hope  so,  for  there 
was  a  real  man.  He  had  been  doing  very  well,  and 
was  a  most  valuable  man,  not  only  for  his  ability  as  a 
pilot,  but  also  as  an  officer  and  a  leader  for  our  own 
men.  I  had  gotten  to  know  Jim  quite  well.  He  was  a 
true  friend  and  certainly  no  braver  man  ever  lived. 
According  to  the  newspaper  reports  he  was  shot  down 
by  a  new  type  of  German  machine  which  has  unusual 
climbing  ability  and  can  shoot  at  another  machine 
above  it  much  better  than  the  ordinary  single-seater 
with  fixed  guns.  The  report  was  that  Jim  was  diving 
on  one  when  it  suddenly  pulled  up  under  him  and  got 
him  from  below,  but  of  course  this  is  only  a  news- 
paper report  on  which  little  reliance  can  be  placed. 

This  new  German  machine  is  a  tri-plane.  It  also 
has  fixed  guns  Hke  all  other  single-seater  fighting  ma- 
chines, but  is  very  light,  so  that  it  climbs  with  ex- 
traordinary speed  and  can  stand  very  much  on  its  tail 
to  shoot.  The  last  fight  I  had  was  with  one  of  them 
just  a  couple  of  days  ago  when  the  weather  cleared  up 
long  enough  to  let  us  get  in  one  flight.  I  was  leading 
a  patrol  of  three  other  men  when  I  saw  this  single  tri- 
plane  detach  himself  from  a  group  and  start  into  his 
own  lines.  I  found  afterwards  that  he  had  made  an 
unsuccessful  attack  on  some  of  our  two-seaters  and  in 
doing  so  had  evidently  gotten  separated  from  the  rest 
of  his  patrol.  At  all  events  the  four  of  us  jumped  on^ 
him  at  about  5000  metres  and  everybody  had  a  few 
cracks  at  him,  but  before  we  got  to  close  range  he 
started  doing  all  kinds  of  stunts  so  that  he  made  the 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  177 

hardest  sort  of  a  target.  The  other  men  seemed  to 
think  we  had  him  and  did  not  follow  him  down,  but  I 
have  seen  this  sort  of  thing  too  often  to  take  anything 
for  granted  and  felt  sure  the  Hun  was  just  throwing 
his  machine  around  in  order  to  get  away  and  that  it 
was  not  out  of  control.  Hence  I  kept  after  him,  shoot- 
ing whenever  I  could  get  my  gun  about  on  him.  It 
worked  to  perfection  this  time  and  I  must  have  fired 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  shots,  some  of  them  at  as 
close  as  40  yards  range,  or  even  less.  But  all  the  time 
he  was  doing  spins,  renversements,  etc.,  and  all  the 
tricks  of  the  trade.  I  know  perfectly  well  I  hit  his 
machine  a  number  of  times,  but  did  not  have  the  luck 
or  rather,  was  not  accurate  enough  to  set  it  on  fire  or 
get  the  pilot.  Once  when  I  was  diving  seventy  yards 
behind  and  above  him,  at  high  speed  and  plugging 
away,  he  suddenly  pulled  up  into  one  of  those  steep 
climbs  for  which  these  machines  are  remarkable.  I 
pulled  up  as  quickly  as  I  could  without  risk  of  break- 
ing something,  but  the  Hun  ended  up  75  yards  above 
me,  and  rather  had  the  advantage  if  he  had  used  it 
properly.  I  put  on  my  motor  wide  open,  and  by  pulling 
my  machine  into  a  climb,  was  able  to  get  my  gun  in  line 
just  as  he  started  to  turn.  Gave  him  a  blast  and  came 
pretty  close;  in  fact,  this  was  one  of  several  times  when 
I  thought  I  might  have  gotten  him.  Anyhow,  it  seemed 
to  give  him  such  a  thrill,  that  he  fell  on  his  nose  and 
passed  below  me  again,  where  it  was  a  simple  matter 
to  dive  after  him  once  more.  I  chased  him  down  to 
2,500  metres  and  then  being  alone  and  not  knowing 
where  I  was,  on  account  of  many  clouds  below,  except 
that  I  was  a  considerable  distance  on  the  German  side 
of  the  fence,  I  had  to  give  it  up  as  a  bad  job.    He  got 


178  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

away  all  right  for  I  saw  him  pull  up  and  fly  off  home 
in  a  perfectly  normal  way.  This  new  Hun  machine 
can  outclimb  our  Spads  but  is  not  as  fast  nor  as  strong 
and  on  account  of  its  light  weight  you  can  catch  them 
easily  in  a  dive.  If,  therefore,  one  remembers  their 
one  strong  point  and  watches  out  for  it,  they  should 
not  prove  as  difficult  to  handle  as  some  of  the  other 
German  types. 

Have  had  three  other  fights  since  last  writing,  two 
of  them  with  these  same  Fokker  tri-planes.  My  gun 
has  been  working  much  better  and  twice  the  Huns 
went  down  but  only,  I  think,  as  a  means  of  escape. 
At  the  time  of  the  second  fight  I  was  flying  with  one 

of  our  men  whose  name  is  F and  who  has  been 

doing  remarkably  good  work,  having  gotten  seven 
Huns  officially,  in  the  past  two  months,  two  of  them 
in  one  day,  since  we  arrived  in  this  sector.  He  has 
great  nerve  and  audacity  but  takes  a  great  many 
chances  which  would  bring  a  less  skilful  man  to  grief. 
His  great  assets  seem  to  be  quickness  of  decision,  get- 
ting to  very  close  range,  and  then  shooting  with  great 
accuracy. 

On  the  occasion  I  speak  of  he  was  leading,  and  I 
wanted  to  watch  him  and  see  just  what  his  methods 
were.  We  saw  a  number  of  Huns  fooling  around  far 
in  their  own  lines,  and  waited  for  some  minutes  for 
them  to  come  out,  but  as  they  showed  no  inclination 
to  come,  we  went  in  to  see  if  we  could  not  get  a  shot 
at  them.  There  were  about  fourteen  chasse  machines 
in  all,  tri-plane  Fokkers,  Albatross,  and  Pfalz,  three 

types  of  Hun  single-seaters.    F had  a  scrap  with 

a  couple  of  them  and  shot  up  one  Fokker,  which  he 
saw  go  down  in  a  spin  almost  to  the  ground.  I  did 
not  get  in  it  at  first  as  I  had  to  stay  up  to  keep  the 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  179 

rest  of  the  army  from  going  down  on  F ,  but  pretty- 
soon  I  got  a  chance  at  a  Pfalz,  which  got  a  bit  off  to 
one  side  of  the  others.  Fired  about  15  shots  when  my 
gun  stuck,  but  as  it  was  I  could  not  have  fired  any 
more  shots  to  advantage  anyhow,  for  the  Hun  went 
immediately  onto  his  nose  and  then  into  a  spin.  Saw 
him  go  down  this  way  for  1000  metres,  but  could  not 
watch  him  further  on  account  of  the  others  which 
started  after  us  in  force.  We  asked  confirmation  on 
these  Huns,  but  could  get  none,  so  I  guess  they  did 
not  crash,  although  if  they  did  they  may  have  been 
too  far  in  their  own  lines  to  have  been  seen  by  our 
observers  on  the  ground.  We  of  com-se  could  not  sail 
into  the  middle  of  an  outfit  like  this,  but  you  can  often 
pick  one  off  on  the  edge  of  a  group  and  get  away 
before  the  others  can  come  to  his  assistance. 

My  other  scrap  was  with  a  big  Rumpler  two-seater. 
I  fired  a  hundred  and  fifty  shots,  and  he  about  a 
hundred,  I  suppose.  I  hit  him  and  had  him  about 
where  I  wanted  him  when  some  others  came  up  and 
forced  me  to  call  it  off.  He  went  off  smoking  into  his 
own  lines,  but  did  not  go  down.  This  makes  nine 
fights  now  since  I  got  my  last  official  Hun.  The 
machine  gun  trouble  has  hindered  me  three  or  four 
times  and  knocked  out  a  couple  of  the  best  chances, 
but  one  should  be  able  to  do  better  than  this.  My 
shooting  has  not  been  what  it  should  be  and  I  do  not 
get  close  enough  before  beginning  to  fire. 

May  25,  1918,  Hopital  de  l'Ocean, 
La  Panne,  Belgium. 

I  am  really  beginning  to  feel  more  like  myself  to- 
day, so  am  going  to  start  on  that  promised  letter. 
Not  that  I  have  been  feeling  very  badly  for  I  really  have 


180  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

not,  but  the  pain  and  inflammation  in  my  knee  has 
kept  me  rather  tired  and  listless,  so  that  it  has  seemed 
impossible  to  get  up  sufficient  energy  to  do  much 
writing. 

I  am  very  glad  I  sent  you  those  cables  at  once  for 
the  only  thing  that  I  have  seen  in  the  papers  about 
myseK  was  incorrect  and  misleading.  There  was  a 
notice  in  the  Paris  N.  Y.  Herald  which  said  that  my 
machine  was  seen  to  finally  crash  and  that  later  I  had 
been  picked  up  in  No  Man's  Land  by  a  French  patrol 
with  a  bullet  through  my  leg.  This  would  naturally 
give  the  impression  that  I  was  too  seriously  hurt  to 
be  able  to  help  myself,  so  here  is  hoping  you  got  one 
of  my  several  cables  in  good  time.  I  sent  several 
through  different  channels  on  the  chance  that  one 
might  be  delayed.  I  shall  tell  you  from  start  to  finish 
what  happened,  although  you  probably  know  most  of 
it  already. 

On  the  morning  of  May  15th  at  about  9.30,  Baker, 

Lieut.  F and  myself  sallied  forth,  in  response  to  a 

telephone  call  saying  that  there  were  a  great  many 
Huns  on  the  lines  and  more  of  our  machines  were 
needed.  We  three  were  on  the  "alert"  patrol  for 
the  morning  and  it  is  the  duty  of  such  a  patrol  to  send 
out  machines  in  response  to  special  calls,  etc.  I  was 
leading  the  party  and  when  we  got  to  the  lines  the 
Huns  had  evidently  gone  in,  for  there  were  none  in 
sight  except  very  far  within   their  own  lines.    We 

cruised  about  for  a  while  quite  high  up  and  F had 

to  go  in  owing  to  motor  trouble,  leaving  Baker  and 
myself.  I  noticed  a  lone  Boche  two-seater  saiHng 
about  in  his  own  lines,  but  he  was  very  low  down  and 
not  in  a  good  position  to  attack  and  I  did  not  want  to 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  181 

go  down  and  lose  all  that  altitude  until  we  were  sure 
the  activity  up  above  had  quieted  down.  I  mean  the 
activity  which  had  brought  the  telephone  call,  for  we 
had  certainly  seen  none  ourselves  to  speak  of.  To  go 
down  from  4500  to  1000  metres  and  then  have  the 
Huns  come  along  at  the  altitude  you  have  just  left, 
means  that  it  will  take  you  about  fifteen  minutes  to 
get  up  to  them  again;  and  then,  nine  times  out  of  ten, 
it  is  too  late.  Accordingly,  we  took  another  turn 
about,  and  seeing  nothing  I  went  back  to  see  if  the 
lone  two-seater  was  still  there,  and  saw  him  still  sail- 
ing around  in  wide  circles,  evidently  regulating  artil- 
lery fire.  Also  noticed  a  large  white  cloud  just  over 
the  lines  opposite  and  above  the  Hun,  so  I  thought  we 
might  try  to  spring  a  little  surprise  on  him.  We  dove 
down  on  our  side  of  the  cloud  where  he  could  not  see 
us,  flew  along  just  above  it  until  the  Hun  made  a  tura 
near  the  lines,  when  I  ducked  down  through  a  hole 
and  went  for  him.  Unfortunately,  he  saw  us  com- 
ing, and  when  I  was  within  150  yards  of  him,  up  went 
his  tail  and  he  started  diving  full  motor  into  his  own 
country.  I  dove  after  him  as  fast  as  my  bus  would 
go  and  overhauled  him  a  little  but  could  not  get  to 
good  close  range;  started  shooting  at  about  100  yards 
range  and  the  Boche  commenced  zigzagging  as  he 
dove.  I  got  in  about  seventy-five  shots,  I  suppose,  and 
suddenly  saw  the  machine  gunner  apparently  almost 
fall  overboard,  then  throw  up  his  arms  and  disappear 
in  the  fuselage.  Evidently  he  had  gotten  it  even 
though  the  pilot  had  not.  Just  at  this  moment  when 
I  think  with  a  few  more  shots  I  might  have  finished 
the  whole  outfit,  my  gun  stuck,  due  to  a  defective 
cartridge  and  I  had  to  give  it  up.    I  thought  for  a  few 


182  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

minutes  that  the  Hun  might  crash  anyhow,  but  he 
pulled  up  just  over  some  houses  and  very  low  down, 
for  I  could  see  his  shadow  on  the  ground  close  beside 
him  as  he  dashed  off  out  of  sight  into  his  own  back 
areas.  The  scrap  ended  three  or  four  miles  in  Hun- 
land,  and  we  got  rather  heavily  *' archied"  coming  out, 
but  nothing  close  enough  to  be  dangerous. 

When  we  got  back  to  our  lines  a  few  minutes'  work 
sufficed  to  get  my  gun  running  again  and  we  started 
up  the  lines  in  the  direction  of  home,  as  our  gasoline 
was  getting  low.  Ten  minutes  after  the  first  fight  we 
were  flying  along  inside  our  own  lines,  when  I  noticed 
a  peculiar  two-seater  circling  very  low  down  between 
the  trenches,  he  could  not  have  been  more  than  600 
metres  up.  I  took  him  for  an  English  infantry  liaison 
machine,  which  he  very  much  resembled,  but  then 
noticed  that  he  seemed  to  circle  into  the  Boche  lines 
with  remarkable  impunity  considering  his  very  low 
altitude,  so  decided  to  investigate.  Sure  enough 
there  were  the  old  black  crosses  on  him  showing  plainly 
as  he  swung  almost  under  me  in  making  a  turn  over 
our  fines.  I  said  that  this  Hun  was  flying  between  the 
trenches  as  he  was,  but  in  this  most  terrible  of  all  the 
battlefields  that  I  have  seen,  you  cannot  distinguish 
the  trenches  from  above,  and  in  many  places  they 
consist  simply  of  shell-holes  joined  together.  The  par- 
ticular spot  where  we  encountered  this  Hun  is  less 
than  two  miles  from  Oliver  Chadwick's  grave,  so  that 
from  the  pictures  and  descriptions  I  have  already  sent 
you,  you  know  pretty  much  what  the  country  is  like. 
Very  low  and  flat  and  the  ground  nothing  but  a  con- 
glomerate mass  of  shell-holes  filled  with  water,  and 
barbed  wire.    Here  and  there  a  wrecked  concrete 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  183 

shelter  or  "pill  box,"  and  the  shattered  stumps  of 
trees. 

The  only  way  that  I  knew  that  my  friend  was  really 
a  Hun  was  by  his  crosses,  for  it  was  the  first  Boche 
machine  of  the  kind  that  I  had  ever  seen,  and  indeed  I 
have  never  heard  of  any  one  that  I  know,  running  into 
one  like  it.  He  had  a  rounded  body  like  some  French 
machines,  the  tail  was  square  and  the  lower  wing 
much  shorter  than  the  upper,  like  many  of  the  English 
two-seater  observation  planes.  All  the  Hun  two- 
seaters  that  I  have  ever  seen  or  heard  of  before,  have 
both  the  upper  and  lower  wings  approximately  the 
same  length.  In  addition  to  this  it  was  the  slowest 
bus  you  ever  saw  and  I  think  I  could  go  two  miles  to 
his  one.  All  this  leads  me  to  beheve  that  it  was  a 
new  type  of  German  armored  plane  which  they  call 
*' Junkers"  and  which  I  have  read  about  in  the  avia- 
tion reports.  They  are  built  especially  for  this  low 
infantry  haison  work  and  are  heavily  armored  about 
the  fuselage  to  protect  them  from  fire  from  the  ground. 
In  consequence  of  their  great  weight  they  cannot  go 
very  high  and  are  extremely  slow.  This  fellow  must 
have  been  a  squadron  leader  or  something,  for  he  had 
four  big  streamers  attached  to  his  wings,  one  on  the 
top  and  another  on  the  lower  plane  on  each  side.  Per- 
haps, however,  these  may  have  merely  been  means  of 
identification  for  the  benefit  of  his  own  infantry,  al- 
though it  is  very  common  for  patrol  leaders  to  carry 
such  streamers  so  that  their  pilots  may  easily  distin- 
guish them  from  the  other  machines  in  the  patrol. 
Personally  I  have  a  big  blue  band  around  the  fuselage 
of  my  machine  and  also  a  blue  nose,  which  serves  the 
same  purpose.    Whether  or  not  this  fellow  was  what 


184  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

I  think  he  was,  I  hope  that  when  I  am  flying  again  I 
may  see  him  or  at  least  another  like  him  and  have 
another  go  at  him.  He  certainly  got  the  best  of  me, 
and  I  don't  feel  at  all  vindictive  about  it,  as  it  was  a 
perfectly  fair  fight,  but  just  the  same  it  would  give 
me  more  satisfaction  to  bring  that  boy  down  than  any 
five  others.  It  would  also  be  interesting  to  see  whether 
his  hide  is  thick  enough  to  stand  a  good  dose  of  armor- 
piercing  bullets  at  short  range.  An  incendiary  bullet 
in  his  gas  tank  might  also  make  his  old  boiler  factory  a 
warm  place  to  fly  in. 

As  soon  as  I  was  sure  that  the  machine  was  really  a 
Hun  I  dove  down  after  him  and  made  up  my  mind 
this  time  to  get  at  good  close  range.  I  did,  and  ended 
up  fifty  yards  directly  behind  his  tail  and  sUghtly 
below,  but  I  made  one  bad  mistake,  a  real  beginner's 
trick  which  was  the  cause  of  all  my  troubles.  I  evi- 
dently was  not  quite  far  enough  below  him  and  I  had 
not  fired  more  than  one  or  two  shots  when  I  got  caught 
in  the  back  draught  from  his  propeller,  which  joggled 
my  machine  about  so  that  anything  approaching  accu- 
rate shooting  became  an  impossibility.  I  saw  one 
bullet  go  three  feet  to  one  side  of  him  and  another 
several  feet  on  the  other  side,  so  stopped  shooting  for 
a  second  to  get  in  better  position.  Any  one  with  a 
little  experience  should  know  better  than  to  get  him- 
self caught  like  this,  especially  myself,  for  I  had  the 
same  thing  happen  with  the  first  Hun  I  ever  brought 
down.  That  time  I  dove  down  a  little  before  shooting 
at  all,  and  then  fired  from  a  good  position  a  little  lower 
down.  Hence,  when  I  found  myself  in  the  same 
trouble  this  time,  I  tried  to  remedy  the  situation  in  the 
same  way,  but  in  doing  so  I  entirely  failed,  for  the 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  185 

instant,  to  appreciate  the  very  slow  speed  of  the  Hun. 
I  was  aheady  close  to  hun,  and  when  I  dove  down  and 
then  pulled  up  to  shoot,  I  found  to  my  astonishment 
that  I  had  overshot  the  mark  and  was  almost  directly 
under  him,  so  much  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  get 
my  gun  on  him.  He  started  swerving  from  side  to 
side  to  get  me  out  from  under  him  so  that  the  machine 
gunner  could  shoot,  and  I  tried  to  stay  under  him, 
swerving  as  he  did  and  at  the  same  time  slowing  down 
my  motor  to  the  limit  so  as  to  try  to  let  him  get  ahead 
of  me  enough  to  allow  me  to  start  shooting  again. 
The  Boche  and  I  were  at  this  time  about  twenty  yards 
apart  and  if  he  had  only  had  a  trap-door  in  his  bottom 
he  might  have  brought  me  down  by  dropping  a  brick 
on  my  head.  However,  he  did  not  need  it.  The  Hun 
gave  a  twist  which  took  me  for  an  instant  beyond  the 
protection  of  his  fuselage.  It  was  only  for  a  second  or 
two,  but  that  was  sufficient  for  the  observer,  who  pro- 
ceeded to  do  the  quickest  and  most  accurate  bit  of 
shooting  that  I  have  yet  run  up  against.  As  a  rule  in 
such  a  situation,  you  see  the  observer  look  over  the 
side  of  his  machine  at  you,  and  then  swing  his  gun 
around  on  its  pivot  and  point  it  in  your  direction. 
While  he  is  doing  this  you  have  time  to  duck. 

In  this  case,  however,  I  saw  a  black-hehneted  head 
appear  over  the  edge  of  the  Hun  machine  and  almost 
at  the  same  instant  he  fired,  as  quickly  as  you  could 
snap-shoot  with  a  pistol,  or  with  a  shot  gun  at  a  quail 
in  the  brush,  for  instance.  In  trying  to  slow  down  as 
much  as  possible  I  had  gotten  into  almost  a  loss  of 
speed,  so  that  my  machine  did  not  perhaps  answer  to 
the  controls  as  quickly  as  it  otherwise  would  have. 
This,  however,  made  no  difference,  for  although  I 


186  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

tried  my  best  to  swerve  back  under  the  Boche's  body 
to  get  out  of  his  Hne  of  fire,  and  in  spite  of  the  great 
quickness  with  which  he  shot,  he  was  as  accurate  as 
he  was  quick  and  his  very  first  shot  came  smashing 
through  the  front  of  my  machine  above  the  motor  and 
caught  me  just  on  top  of  the  left  knee.  It  felt  more 
like  a  crack  on  the  leg  from  a  fast-pitched  baseball 
than  anything  else  I  know  of  except  that  there  is  also 
a  sort  of  penetrating  feeling  one  gets  from  a  bullet. 

How  many  more  bullets  hit  the  machine  I  don't  know 
and  never  had  a  chance  to  find  out,  but  my  motor  went 
dead  at  once,  so  that  knocked  out  all  chance  of  any 
further  shots  at  the  Boche.  I  dove  under  him  out  of 
his  Hne  of  fire  and  then  twisted  sharply  around  and 
planed  back  for  our  own  fines,  trying  to  make  the  most 
of  the  little  height  I  had.  A  glance  at  my  gauges 
showed  no  pressure  in  the  gas  tank,  and  that  together 
with  the  way  in  which  the  motor  stopped  made  it 
quite  obvious  that  the  trouble  was  a  severed  pressure 
or  main  gasoline  pipe.  Now  we  carry  a  special  little 
emergency  tank  which  is  operated  by  gravity  and  is 
for  just  such  occasions.  It  will  run  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  plenty  of  time  to  find  a  good  landing  place. 
I  tried  to  turn  it  on  but  the  little  stop-cock  would  not 
budge,  so  I  dropped  my  controls  and  letting  the  ma- 
chine take  care  of  itself  for  an  instant,  tried  with  both 
hands  to  move  it.  Still  no  effect;  it  had  evidently 
also  been  put  out  of  business  by  a  bullet,  probably  the 
same  which  cut  the  main  connections.  It  only  took 
a  few  seconds  to  cover  the  distance  to  the  ground, 
which  could  not  have  been  more  than  three  hundred 
yards  after  I  had  gotten  turned  in  the  right  direction. 

Kept  working  away  until  the  last  minute,  trying  to 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  187 

get  the  motor  going,  for  every  one  who  knows  this 
country  also  knows  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to 
land  any  machine  in  it  without  crashing,  let  alone  a 
Spad  which  requires  at  least  as  great  speed  for  land- 
ing as  any  other  type.  All  my  efforts  were  useless, 
however,  and  I  saw  that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but 
to  smash  up  as  gracefully  as  possible.  The  thing  that 
bothered  me  most,  however,  was  not  the  smash,  for 
that  would  probably  only  result  in  a  little  shaking  up, 
but  I  thought  I  was  further  in  the  Hun  lines  than  I 
was  and  had  most  unpleasant  visions  of  spending  the 
rest  of  the  war  in  Germany,  which  is  not  at  all  my 
idea  of  a  good  time.  If,  however,  it  was  No  Man's 
Land  where  I  was  going  down,  I  thought  the  Huns 
would  probably  turn  their  guns  loose  on  my  plane  as 
soon  as  it  crashed  and  that  the  best  thing  to  do  would 
be  to  get  out  and  away  from  it  as  quickly  as  possible. 

I  held  my  machine  off  the  ground  as  long  as  I  could, 
with  the  double  purpose  of  getting  as  far  towards  our 
own  lines  as  possible  and  also  so  as  to  reduce  my  speed 
to  a  minimum  before  I  touched  the  ground  and  the 
crash  came.  Braced  myself  inside  my  cockpit  and 
tucked  in  my  head  like  a  blooming  turtle  in  his  shell. 
Just  at  the  last  moment  I  veered  the  plane  a  little 
to  one  side  to  avoid  landing  in  the  middle  of  a  barbed 
wire  entanglement  and  then  the  instant  my  wheels 
touched  the  ground,  over  my  machine  went  in  the 
middle  of  its  back  with  a  loud  crash.  As  soon  as  it 
was  over  I  unbuckled  my  belt  and  scrambHng  out  lost 
no  time  in  rolling  into  a  nearby  shell-hole. 

I  looked  around,  rather  expecting  to  see  a  bunch  of 
Huns  running  up  to  grab  me  but  there  was  not  a  liv- 
ing soul  in  sight  and  the  place  seemed  remarkably 


188  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

quiet.  Twenty  yards  to  one  side  was  an  old  artillery 
observation  post  made  of  sand  bags  which  looked  as 
though  it  might  make  a  fairly  seciu^e  hiding  place,  so 
I  decided  to  get  there  while  the  going  was  good,  for  I 
felt  sure  that  it  could  not  be  long  before  things  started 
to  happen.  I  crawled  towards  this  shelter  as  fast  as 
I  could  go,  trying  always  to  keep  out  of  sight  in  the 
shell-holes,  rolling  over  the  edges  of  the  craters  and 
half  swimming,  half  wading  through  the  water  and 
muck  with  which  they  are  filled.  On  the  way  I  passed 
a  dilapidated  lot  of  barbed  wire.  I  suppose  I  reached 
the  shelter  in  less  than  a  minute  after  hitting  the 
ground  and  just  as  I  got  there  machine  guns  seemed 
to  open  up  all  around.  The  Hun  whom  I  had  so  un- 
successfully tried  to  bring  down  was  flying  overhead 
and  I  think  shooting  at  the  wreck  of  my  machine, 
although  I  did  not  look  to  be  sure.  Then  the  Boche 
gunners  in  the  trenches  turned  loose  with  a  machine 
gun  or  two  on  my  plane  and  some  of  the  English 
infantry  began  firing  at  the  Hun  plane  to  drive  him 
off,  while  others,  as  I  learned  afterwards,  fired  at  me, 
thinking  that  it  was  a  Hun  that  had  come  down.  The 
average  infantryman,  you  know,  does  not  know  much 
about  aviation,  and  sometimes  finds  it  difficult  to  dis- 
tinguish between  his  own  planes  and  those  of  the 
enemy.  Altogether  there  was  quite  a  rumpus,  so  I 
just  lay  low  in  my  shelter,  and  as  the  bullets  went 
singing  by,  was  mighty  glad  I  had  a  shelter  to  lie  low  in. 
The  Boche  plane  was  still  flying  around  and  I  did 
not  dare  come  out  imtil  he  had  gone  for  he  would  have 
seen  me  and  potted  me  like  a  rat.  While  I  waited  I 
tore  open  my  pants  and  had  a  look  at  my  knee.  It 
did  not  seem  to  amount  to  much — two  or  three  holes 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  189 

as  big  as  the  end  of  your  little  finger  and  about  a 
dozen  little  ones.  It  looked  as  though  I  had  stopped 
a  load  of  bird  shot  more  than  anything  else.  It  bled 
very  little,  but  I  tied  it  up  with  my  handkerchief  any- 
how to  keep  the  mud  and  water  out. 

In  less  than  five  minutes  after  I  had  come  down  I 
heard  the  sound  which  I  had  been  expecting  and 
dreading,  the  whine  of  a  Boche  shell  coming.  The 
first  one  landed  about  a  hundred  yards  over  my  plane 
but  the  line  seemed  to  be  perfect.  I  waited  to  see 
where  the  next  one  would  go  and  the  next  five  or  six 
all  landed  in  about  the  same  place,  perhaps  seventy- 
five  yards  in  front  of  me,  but  rather  effectively  cutting 
me  off  from  the  Enghsh  trenches.  They  were  all  big 
ones  (5.9  inch  calibre)  and  came  at  perhaps  30-second 
intervals  to  start  with,  later  they  speeded  up  a  bit  and 
sent  sometimes  three  or  four  over  at  the  same  time. 
They  used  high  explosive,  luckily  for  me,  instead  of 
shrapnel,  but  the  H.  E.  makes  a  terrific  commotion 
when  it  goes  off  and  throws  a  column  of  mud  and 
debris  nearly  a  hundred  yards  in  the  air.  Seems  to 
have  rather  more  bark  than  bite,  however. 

Pretty  soon  they  began  to  come  closer,  and  though 
I  hated  to  leave  my  cozy  shelter  I  decided  to  get  mov- 
ing again  for  if  one  of  those  boys  had  landed  in  my  im- 
mediate vicinity,  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  but  that  my 
shelter  and  I  would  have  gone  for  a  ride.  It  seemed 
just  a  question  of  time  until  this  happened,  so  I  took  to 
crawling  and  swimming  in  shell-holes  again.  Stopped 
for  a  minute  to  rest  in  another  little  shelter,  which  was 
about  the  size  of  a  chicken  coop,  and  into  which  I 
could  just  fit  myself  by  drawing  my  knees  up  under 
my  chin.    A  couple  of  5.9  shells  went  off  just  behind 


190  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

my  little  sand  bag  house,  rocking  it  from  side  to  side. 
This  made  crawling  seem  a  very  slow  method  of  get- 
ting away,  so  decided  to  try  running.  Before  my  leg 
stiffened  up  it  did  not  hurt  much,  but  even  so,  with 
those  big  shells  coming  that  close,  I  think  I  could  give 
a  pretty  good  imitation  of  runnmg,  without  any  legs 
at  all. 

While  in  the  first  shelter  I  had  taken  a  good  look  at 
the  sun  and  at  the  German  and  English  lines  of  sausage 
balloons,  so  that  I  was  fairly  sure  of  my  direction. 
Hence  I  waited  until  a  shell  had  just  burst  and  then 
got  up  and  made  a  dash  for  it  along  the  edge  of  a  little 
old  narrow  gauge  railway  where  the  going  was  smoother. 
Had  not  gone  far  when  a  sniper^s  bullet  cracked  into  a 
rail  alongside  of  me  and  I  heard  the  whiz  of  some  more 
big  shells  coming.  Down  goes  little  Willie  flat  on  his 
face  in  the  ditch  and  boom,  boom,  boom  went  three 
of  them  just  to  one  side.  After  their  first  long  shots, 
the  Hun  artillery  evidently  got  a  couple  of  practically 
direct  hits  on  my  overturned  machine,  for  they  blew 
the  wheels  off,  tore  the  wings  from  one  side,  and  gen- 
erally finished  it,  thereby  making  me  exceedingly  glad 
that  I  was  no  longer  in  it.  After  this  they  seemed  to 
change  their  range  again  and  began  putting  them  back 
where  the  first  ones  had  fallen  and  as  I  had  by  this 
time  reached  this  spot  they  came  much  too  close  for. 
comfort.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  get  on  as^ 
fast  as  possible,  for  crawling  won't  help  you  if  one  of 
these  big  fellows  decides  he  wants  to  share  your  shell- 
hole. 

I  kept  on  running  and  crawling  as  opportunity 
offered  and  each  time  I  heard  a  shell  coming  dove 
head  first  into  the  nearest  shell-hole.    Am  afraid  my 


"In  Flanders  fields  the  poppies  blow." 

Wreck  of  the  machine  shown  facing  page  102,  Avith  the  pilot's  grave 
beside  it. 


A  portion  of  the  Yi)res  sector. 

Near  the  spot  where  the  author  was  shot  down  on  May  1.5,  1918.  The  ground 
shown  is  higher  than  that  where  the  author  came  down,  and  the  picture 
was  talien  after  a  dry  spell.  In  the  foreground  are  the  remains  of  a  trench 
after  bombardment. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  191 

diving  form  was  rather  poor,  for  a  Tommy  told  me 
later  that  they  could  see  the  splash  I  made  all  the 
way  from  their  lines.  But  what  is  form  among  Allies  ? 
You  can^t  imagine  how  the  sound  of  a  big  one  coming 
close  makes  you  want  to  hug  the  mud  in  the  bottom 
of  any  old  hole  that  comes  along.  I  guess  I  had  the 
wind  up  all  right  (EngHsh  for  being  scared)  but  then 
I  am  not  used  to  this  kind  of  war  and  I  hope  I  shall 
never  have  to  be.  I  struck  two  more  lines  of  barbed 
wire  entanglements  which  were  in  good  condition  and 
very  thick.  I  was  afraid  to  stand  up  in  full  view  of 
the  Huns  and  try  to  climb  over  them,  which  would 
probably  have  only  resulted  in  my  getting  completely 
tangled  up,  especially  as  I  still  had  on  my  heavy  fur- 
lined  flying  combination.  Therefore  in  both  cases  I 
went  under,  rolling  in  each  case  into  a  big  shell-hole, 
submerging  up  to  my  chin  and  swimming  under,  push- 
ing the  wire  up  with  my  hands  as  I  went.  Funny 
what  one  will  think  of  in  such  a  situation,  but  I  had 
to  laugh  at  myself  as  I  remembered  Baimsfather's 
comic  drawings,  ''The  Better  'Ole''  and  ''When  do 
they  feed  the  Sea  Lion?"  If  you  don't  remember 
them,  look  them  up  in  the  collection  of  Baimsfather 

drawings  that  I  sent  you  by  N and  you  will  see 

what  I  mean.  I  don't  think  I  ever  really  appreciated 
all  there  is  in  those  drawings  until  then. 

Finally  I  sat  down  in  a  shell-hole  to  take  off  my 
combination,  for  being  soaking  wet  it  weighed  a  ton 
and  had  me  so  all  in  I  felt  as  though  I  could  lug  it  no 
further.  Just  then  I  looked  up  and  have  never  been 
so  deUghted  in  my  life  as  when  I  saw  half  a  dozen 
Tommies  beckoning  to  me  over  a  low  parapet  about 
fifty  yards  away.     I  was  pretty  well  fed  up  with 


192  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

crawling  and  swimming  by  this  time,  so  decided  to 
cover  that  last  fifty  yards  quickly,  bullets  or  no  bul- 
lets. Made  a  run  for  it  and  it  is  too  bad  some  one 
did  not  have  a  stop-watch  to  take  the  time,  for  I  think 
I  was  about  two  seconds  flat.  I  fairly  threw  myself 
into  that  trench  and  then  in  an  Irish  brogue  came 
the  question,  ''Faith,  and  who  are  you?"  ''I'm  an 
American,"  says  I,  panting  for  breath,  for  I  was  a 
bit  all  in  from  running.  This  surprised  them  very 
much.  Some  one  yelled  over  from  another  trench 
nearby  to  know  if  they  had  captured  a  Boche  and  one 
of  the  Tommies  said,  "Ay  say  Mai  tie,  when  you  furst 
com  down  we  was  afther  thinkin'  you  was  a  bloody 
'Un."  They  had  been  led  astray  by  the  different 
arrangement  of  the  colors  in  the  American  cocarde, 
red,  blue,  and  white  reading  from  the  outer  circle  in, 
instead  of  red,  white,  and  blue,  as  in  the  French;  and 
blue,  white,  and  red,  as  in  the  English. 

This  trench  where  I  ended  up  was  an  advanced  post 
at  the  extreme  end  of  a  corner  saUent,  so  that  my 
choice  of  direction  was  very  lucky  as  it  took  me  to  the 
nearest  possible  friendly  point.  It  was,  however,  com- 
pletely isolated  so  that  no  one  could  go  or  come  during 
the  hours  of  daylight,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it 
but  to  wait  until  dark.  I  reached  the  trench  about 
noon.  The  trench  was  manned  by  a  platoon  from  an 
Irish  regiment,*  most  of  them  from  Ulster  and,  of 
course  all  volunteers,  and  a  mighty  good  lot  they  were. 
One  of  the  stretcher  bearers  put  some  iodine  and  a  ban- 
dage on  my  wound,  and  another  fellow  produced  bread 
and  butter  with  good  hot  Oxo  soup,  made  on  a  little 
hard-alcohol  stove.    Cigarettes  were  plentiful  and  we 

*  Royal  Irish  Rifles.' 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  193 

settled  down  to  an  infantryman's  day  in  the  trenches 
for  a  change.  The  weather  was  beautiful,  with  a 
warm  sun,  and  just  a  few  fleecy  clouds  floating  about. 
The  Huns  kept  on  for  a  while  dropping  5.9's  around 
the  wreck  of  my  poor  machine,  of  which  we  could  see 
a  portion  of  a  shattered  wing  from  the  trench,  and 
then  things  subsided  into  what  the  men  considered  a 
rather  quiet  day. 

There  were  no  officers  in  the  trench,  the  platoon 
being  in  charge  of  a  couple  of  very  intelUgent  and 
seemingly  capable  sergeants.  We  sat  and  chatted 
about  the  war  and  the  affairs  of  the  nations  in  general 
and  every  now  and  then  some  one  would  produce  a  cup 
of  hot  tea,  cocoa,  or  coffee,  with  hard  tack,  bread,  and 
butter  and  such  knick-knacks.  These  men  get  their 
breakfast  at  3.30  a.  m.,  and  then  nothing  comes  near 
them  again  until  9.30  p.  m.,  when  it  is  dark  enough  to 
bring  up  supper,  so  naturally  they  take  a  lot  of  little 
odds  and  ends  to  spell  them  in  between  times.  The 
trench  was  an  open  affair  with  no  head  protection 
except  in  one  or  two  places  where  -a  piece  of  light  sheet 
metal  was  thrown  across,  but  this  would  of  course  stop 
nothing  worse  than  a  spent  piece  of  shrapnel.  The 
Huns  shelled  our  inmiediate  vicinity  very  little  except 
for  four  shells,  the  first  of  which  fell  a  hundred  yards 
away,  the  next  fifty,  and  then  two  at  about  twenty- 
five  yards  on  each  side,  straddling  us.  No  one  paid 
much  attention  to  them;  one  or  two  of  the  men  would 
look  up,  laugh  and  say,  '^Hey  there,  Jerry's  wakin' 
up  again.''  Several  times  we  saw  some  Hun  two-seat- 
ers in  the  distance  and  twice  a  patrol  of  single-seaters 
passed  over,  well  up.  Our  "Archies"  got  after  one 
patrol  of  four  and  split  it  all  up  so  that  I  prayed  that 


194  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

one  of  our  own  patrols  might  come  along,  for  those 
four  solitary  Huns  would  have  made  fine  picking.  The 
English  artillery  was  much  more  active  and  our  own 
shells  kept  shrieking  just  above  our  heads  all  day  long, 
for  an  hour  or  two  in  the  afternoon  becoming  very 
lively  indeed.  We  could  watch  the  shells  landing  on 
the  Hun  trenches  four  or  five  hundred  yards  away, 
and  throwing  up  great  clouds  of  dirt  and  -wreckage, 
and  a  most  interesting  and  comforting  sight  it  was. 

Towards  sim-down  the  men  began  to  get  restless 
from  the  long  hours  of  sitting  in  cramped  positions, 
and  commenced  moving  about  in  the  trench,  and  show- 
ing their  heads  above  the  parapet  in  a  way  that  seemed 
to  be  fooHsh.  You  may  be  sure  that  I  did  not  show 
even  the  end  of  my  nose,  for  having  gotten  that  far 
I  was  taking  no  more  chances  than  I  had  to.  The 
sergeant  cautioned  them,  but  they  did  not  pay  much 
heed  until  suddenly  ''crack"  and  the  dirt  flew  from 
the  end  of  the  parapet,  where  a  sniper's  bullet  had 
landed.  If  it  had  been  six  inches  higher  a  Tommy 
who  was  standing  directly  in  fine  with  it  would  have 
now  been  in  Kingdom  Come;  but  then  this  war  is  all 
'4fs"  of  that  sort.  This  warning  was  luckily  sufficient 
for  pretty  soon  another  bullet  jostled  a  sand  bag 
directly  in  front  of  where  I  was  sitting.  After  one 
more  ineffectual  try  the  sniper  called  it  ofif,  but  the 
episode  brought  forth  an  anecdote  from  one  of  the 
men.  He  said  that  a  year  or  so  before  he  had  been 
sitting  in  a  trench  when  one  of  the  men  had  carelessly 
shown  his  head.  A  sniper  took  a  shot  at  him  and 
missed  by  a  couple  of  inches,  to  which  the  intended 
victim  replied  ''Hey  there,  Jerry,  missed  me,  didn't 
ye?    'ave  another  go  at  if  and  stuck  his  head  above 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  195 

the  parapet  again.  Quick  as  a  flash — crack — and  a 
man  next  to  him  caught  the  foolhardy  soldier  as  he 
fell  with  a  ball  squarely  in  the  middle  of  his  forehead. 
''Now/'  added  the  teller  of  this  story,  'Hhat  guy  was 
just  arsking  for  it  and  he  got  it.  You  guys  there  will 
get  it  too  if  you  keeps  on  arskin,  so  help  yourselves, 
but  not  me!"  This  was  the  wisdom  of  an  old  timer, 
and  I  think  it  was  wisdom  which  many  a  soldier  would 
do  well  to  take  to  heart. 

I  had  an  interesting  day  with  those  fellows;  they  had 
seen  a  lot  of  service.  Several  of  them  had  come  over 
in  1914  and  been  at  it  ever  since,  many  of  them  had 
been  wounded,  all  the  old  timers  seemed  to  have  been. 
Finally  as  darkness  began  to  fall  an  ofiicer  came  on 
his  rounds  inquiring  for  'Hhe  missing  airman,"  and  I 
hobbled  off  across  the  duck  boards  after  him,  using  an 
old  pick  handle  as  a  cane,  for  my  knee  had  grown  very 
sore  and  stiff  during  the  day.  Our  path  was  in  plain 
view  of  the  enemy  trenches,  but  it  was  by  this  time 
too  dusk  for  them  to  make  us  out  so  we  were  not  dis- 
turbed. 

A  walk  of  four  hundred  yards  brought  us  to  com- 
pany headquarters  and  there  I  had  supper  with  three 
officers  in  their  bomb-proof  shelter.  It  reminded  me 
more  of  a  large  dog  kennel  than  anything  else,  and  to 
negotiate  the  door  it  was  necessary  to  crawl  on  all 
fours.  The  Colonel  had  sent  up  word  from  battalion 
headquarters  that  he  hoped  that  I  would  dine  with 
him,  but  as  the  officers  at  company  headquarters  had 
also  invited  me  I  was  glad  to  take  the  first  meal  avail- 
able. The  dugout  where  we  ate  served  as  a  general 
dining-room  for  the  officers  and  also  as  Uving  quarters 
for  two  of  them.    It  was  perhaps  three  and  a  half  feet 


/ 


196  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

high  and  certainly  not  more  than  eight  by  six  feet  in 
extent,  but  of  course  a  vast  improvement  on  what  the 
men  have.  While  on  duty  in  the  front  lines  they  just 
flop  down  anywhere  they  can  when  it  is  not  their  turn 
on  guard. 

My  day  as  an  infantryman  made  me  very  glad  to  be 
in  the  aviation,  but  the  peculiar  part  about  it  is  that 
you  will  rarely  if  ever  find  a  Tommy  who  envies  us. 
I  can't  imagine  anything  much  worse  than  the  exist- 
ence of  these  fellows  with  whom  I  spent  the  day  in 
the  front  line  trench.  With  nothing  but  an  open 
trench  to  protect  them,  affording  no  place  to  rest  or 
sleep,  except  by  sitting  on  the  bottom  and  leaning  up 
against  the  side,  and  the  trench  necessarily  so  shallow 
from  the  nature  of  the  ground  that  to  stand  upright 
meant  exposing  one's  head  and  shoulders,  they  have 
to  stick  it  there  for  stretches  of  a  week  at  a  time,  and 
sometimes  when  there  is  an  attack  on  and  the  reliefs 
are  scarce,  the  sessions  are  much  longer.  The  bottom 
of  the  trench  is  always  full  of  water;  the  duck  boards 
keep  you  out  of  it  in  dry  weather,  but  when  it  is  wet 
they  are  submerged.  Afl  day  and  night  the  shells  fall 
around  them,  sometimes  very  thick,  and  again  only  at 
long  intervals.  If  one  lands  in  the  trench  or  on  the 
parapet,  it  of  course  means  heavy  casualties.  The  in- 
cautious showing  of  a  head  may  bring  a  sniper's  bullet 
or  a  burst  of  machine-gun  fire  at  any  minute.  The 
sergeant  told  me  that  he  thought  what  made  the  men 
more  "windy"  than  anything  else  in  such  an  advanced 
post  was  the  thought  of  being  severely  wounded  and 
having  to  lie  there  all  day  before  being  able  to  get  to 
a  doctor.  In  a  very  serious  case,  where  it  meant  life 
or  death  to  get  a  man  operated  on  at  once,  the  stretcher 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  197 

bearers  would  of  course  chance  it  and  take  a  patient 
in  in  full  view  of  the  Huns,  but  the  sniping  of  stretcher 
bearers  has  become  so  common  that  this  is  only  done 
when  absolutely  necessary.  What  a  contrast  to  our 
cosy  billets  far  in  the  rear,  where  we  have  nothing  to 
fear  when  not  flying  other  than  an  occasional  bombing 
at  night.  Bad  weather  brings  the  hardest  times  of  all 
to  the  infantry,  while  to  the  flying  corps  it  means  idle- 
ness in  comfortable  quarters.  Nevertheless,  the  in- 
fantrymen will  tell  you  every  time  that  you  earn  your 
comforts  and  that  you  only  fall  once  in  an  aeroplane, 
or  words  to  Hke  effect. 

After  supper  with  the  company  officers  I  crawled 
out  of  the  dugout  and  started  on  a  walk  of  perhaps  a 
half  mile  or  more  to  the  battalion  headquarters,  the 
nearest  point  to  which  an  ambulance  could  come  up. 
As  we  passed  along  the  trench  I  noticed  a  couple  of 
large  fresh  shell-holes  that  had  blown  in  the  edge  of 
it,  and  my  guide  informed  me  that  one  of  them  had 
sent  the  company  sergeant-major  to  Eangdom  Come 
the  night  before. 

By  the  time  we  were  started  across  the  duck-boards 
once  more  the  last  light  had  faded  from  the  west 
and  a  brilliant  moon  in  its  first  quarter  lit  up  the 
whole  scene.  This  country,  as  I  have  tried  to  de- 
scribe it  to  you,  is  fantastic  enough  during  the  day, 
but  by  moonhght  it  becomes  more  so.  Behind  the 
trenches  on  both  sides  the  sky  is  constantly  lit  up  by 
the  flashes  of  the  guns,  and  their  shells  go  whining 
overhead  in  weird  fashion.  It  would  not  take  much 
imagination  to  hear  in  them,  the  shrieks  of  the  thou- 
sands of  departed  spirits,  whose  earthly  carcasses  are 
rotting  in  this  same  ground.    The  trenches  themselves 


198  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

are  lit  every  few  seconds  by  star  shells  and  there  is  a 
constant  procession  of  signal  lights  and  chains  of  lumi- 
nous balls  which  look  like  those  which  come  from  the 
burst  of  a  rocket.  I  do  not  know  what  they  all  mean 
except  for  certain  kinds  of  chains  of  fiery  balls  which 
we  call  ''flaming  onions,"  and  which  I  believe  the 
Huns  send  up  to  guide  their  night-flying  machines. 

Every  now  and  then  there  comes  a  burst  of  machine- 
gun  fire,  from  first  one  point  and  then  another,  as 
some  gunner  gets  jimipy  or  thinks  he  sees  something 
suspicious  in  the  gloom  of  No  Man^s  Land  or  the 
trenches  beyond.  The  tracer  bullets  from  the  machine 
guns  make  their  contribution  to  the  greatest  display  of 
fireworks  imaginable.  Above  it  all  comes  the  throb- 
bing of  the  motors  of  the  night  bombing  planes  of 
both  sides  as  they  cross  the  fines  in  search  of  their 
various  objectives.  Speaking  of  this,  you  may  have 
noticed  in  the  papers  that  the  Huns  have  been  again 
at  their  old  tricks  of  bombing  hospitals  and  been  very 
successful  at  it,  as  they  usually  are  at  such  work.  As 
we  trudged  slowly  along  we  passed  reliefs  coming  up 
to  take  their  turn  in  the  trenches,  stretchers  loaded 
with  hot  suppers  for  the  men,  etc.,  etc.,  for  those 
front  lines  in  this  flat  country  must  be  fed  and  sup- 
plied in  the  dark.  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  An- 
dalusia with  the  same  moon  sparkling  on  the  river, 
shining  on  the  great  f^hite  pillars  of  the  house  and 
throwing  the  shadows  of  the  stately  trees  across  the 
lawn  on  a  peaceful  spring  evening.  Quite  a  contrast 
to  this  wreck  of  Flanders. 

Battalion  headquarters  reached  at  last.  The  doctor 
dressed  my  knee  again  and  I  went  into  the  mess  room, 
where  I  found  the  Colonel.    Headquarters  proved  to 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  199 

be  a  veritable  mine,  an  intricate  arrangement  of  corri- 
dors and  rooms  all  sunk  at  least  thirty  feet  below 
ground  so  as  to  be  proof  against  the  heaviest  shells  or 
bombs.  Pumps  were  constantly  working,  drawing  off 
the  water,  for  otherwise  such  a  place  would  be  nothing 
but  a  well.  The  Colonel  produced  a  bottle  of  Scotch, 
for  which  I  was  very  thankful,  for  I  felt  like  a  bracer. 
While  I  waited  for  the  ambulance  I  told  him  what  had 
happened  and  he  seemed  to  think  I  had  done  well  and 
been  mighty  lucky  to  get  out  of  it,  for  it  so  happened 
that  he  had  been  in  the  front  hues  at  the  time  I  came 
down  and  had  seen  the  whole  show.  He  was  most 
agreeable  and  we  had  a  long  talk,  as  the  ambulance 
was  a  couple  of  hours  in  getting  there.  He  was  send- 
ing up  one  of  his  engineer  officers  to  save  anything  he 
could  from  my  machine  and  blow  up  the  rest.  I  dis- 
couraged this  plan,  for  I  recalled  the  sad  experience 
of  a  French  patrol  which  tried  to  reach  a  Hun  machine 
that  I  brought  down  last  month  between  the  lines 
on  the  Chemin  des  Dames.  I  had  had  some  eighty 
hours  of  flight  out  of  my  machine  already,  so  it  was 
about  done  anyway  and  not  much  of  a  loss,  and  the 
Hun  artillery  had  pretty  thoroughly  finished  what  was 
left  of  it  after  the  crash.  We  take  great  care  not 
to  mark  on  our  maps  anything  on  our  side  of  the 
lines,  so  there  was  nothing  the  Huns  could  learn 
even  if  they  did  reach  the  wreck.  Perhaps  a  few  in- 
struments, such  as  the  compass  and  altimeter  or  even 
the  machine-gun  might  have  been  saved,  but  to  my 
mind  the  mere  chance  of  this  is  not  worth  risking  lives 
for.  Needless  to  say,  I  had  stopped  for  nothing  once 
I  hit  the  ground,  but  only  lost  an  extra  flying  helmet 
and  a  pair  of  goggles,  so  far  as  my  personal  effects  went. 


200  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

I  would  like  to  emphasize  again  the  kindness  and 
cordiality  which  I  have  always  met  with  at  the  hands 
of  the  English^  This  is  the  third  time  that  I  have 
been  thrown  upon  their  hospitahty,  and  always  with 
the  same  result.  It  has  not  been  merely  the  officers 
but  all  ranks  that  have  shown  this  spirit  of  fellowship. 
There  was  nothing  that  the  men  in  the  front  trenches 
did  not  try  to  do  for  me.  They  were  continually  pro- 
ducing hot  drinks,  and  insisted  on  sharing  with  me  all 
the  little  comforts  they  had,  and  would  hear  of  no 
refusal  on  my  part.  I  learned  that  several  of  the  men 
and  two  of  the  officers  had  volunteered  to  go  out  and 
bring  me  in  out  of  No  Man's  Land  in  broad  daylight. 
When  I  came  in  they  were  preparing  to  start.  This 
meant  leaving  the  comparative  safety  of  their  trenches, 
and  taking  a  long  chance  of  being  killed  on  the  possi- 
bility of  being  able  to  reach  me,  and  bring  me  in,  and 
would  have  required  a  large  amount  of  nerve  and  self- 
sacrifice.  For  me  it  was  a  case  of  being  ^^  between  the 
devil  and  the  deep  sea''  and  running  one  danger  to 
escape  a  worse;  but  for  them  there  was  no  such  alter- 
native. As  I  have  already  told  you,  by  the  time  I 
got  to  company  headquarters  I  had  two  invitations  to 
dinner  and  there  was  nothing  for  my  comfort  and 
assistance  that  these  fellows  did  not  think  of.  At  last 
the  ambulance  arrived  and  proved  to  be  one  of  Henry 
Ford's  vintage.  I  was  never  so  glad  to  see  a  ''tin 
Lizzie"  in  my  life,  for  I  had  had  enough  walking  for 
the  time  being.  Just  as  I  piled  in  a  poor  fellow  who 
had  been  gassed  came  staggering  along,  supported  by 
two  comrades.  They  propped  him  up  in  a  corner  of 
the  ambulance  and  as  we  drove  along  in  the  darkness, 
for  of  course  no  fights  can  be  shown,  he  sat  there  gur- 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  201 

gling  and  gasping  for  breath,  evidently  in  the  greatest 
pain.  Every  now  and  then  a  spasm  would  strike  him 
and  it  seemed  as  though  he  must  choke  to  death.  In 
spite  of  the  modern  masks,  every  time  there  is  a  bom- 
bardment with  gas  shells  there  are  always  a  few  men 
who  get  caught  by  it.  The  rotten  stuff  seems  to  lie 
for  days  in  shell-holes  and  such  places,  and  men  will 
suddenly  be  affected  when  no  gas  has  been  sent  over 
for  a  day  or  so.  This  is  one  form  of  war  which  the 
infantry  has  to  face  that,  thank  heaven,  we  are  not 
troubled  with. 

We  finally  reached  the  ambulance  headquarters 
about  3.30  a.  m.,  and  after  getting  an  anti-tetanus  in- 
jection I  turned  in  on  a  cot  for  the  rest  of  the  night, 
just  as  day  was  breaking,  for  there  was  no  ambulance 
going  to  the  hospital  until  morning.  My  knee  hurt 
too  much  to  permit  of  sleep  and  there  was  a  big  British 
gun  concealed  in  a  woods  nearby  which  kept  pegging 
away,  shaking  the  whole  place  at  each  discharge. 
This  together  with  a  lively  bombardment  going  on 
further  away,  but  which  nevertheless  sounded  pretty 
close,  would  have  made  sleep  an  uncertain  quantity 
anyhow  for  one  accustomed  to  only  more  distant  bom- 
bardments. Among  the  officers  at  this  place  were  four 
American  medical  lieutenants  who  seemed  hke  a  very 
nice  lot.  I  breakfasted  with  them  and  the  English 
officers,  among  the  latter  a  colonel,  and  felt  rather 
ashamed  of  my  sorry  appearance.  I  certainly  looked 
more  like  a  second-class  soldier  than  an  officer.  Since 
I  have  been  acting  as  armament  officer  of  the  squad- 
ron I  have  taken  to  wearing  a  pair  of  enlisted  men^s 
breeches  cut  down  to  fit,  for  my  work  requires  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  tinkering  with  machine  guns  that  plays 


202  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

havoc  with  one's  uniform.  Then  the  American  tunic 
with  its  high,  tight  collar  is  almost  impossible  to  fly 
in  if  one  is  to  do  any  looking  to  the  rear.  Hence  I 
wore  simply  a  sweater  over  my  army  shirt,  and  have 
also  stuck  to  my  French  poilu  boots,  the  most  com- 
fortable and  serviceable  footwear  I  know.  On  the 
morning  before,  we  had  gone  out  unexpectedly,  so  that 
I  had  not  had  a  chance  to  shave,  and  altogether  in  my 
torn  breeches  held  together  with  a  couple  of  safety 
pins,  and  the  whole  outfit  caked  with  mud,  I  was  in- 
deed a  sorry  spectacle  of  an  ojfficer. 

After  sending  off  a  cable  to  you  I  got  an  ambulance 
about  9  A.  M.  and  started  for  a  British  casualty  clear- 
ing station.  I  was  sitting  in  front  with  the  driver, 
and  when  about  half-way  there  what  should  I  see 
coming  but  one  of  the  squadron  light  cars  with  Maj. 

T ,  Hobey  and  M in  it.     I  leaned  out  as  we 

passed  and  yelled  "Hey!  Where  are  you  going?"  and 
when  they  saw  who  it  was  they  all  looked  as  though 
they  had  seen  a  ghost  and  nearly  fell  out  of  the  car. 
The  day  before  Hobey  Baker  had  been  unable  to  do 
much  in  the  fight,  owing  to  his  having  been  out  a  Uttle 
longer  than  I  had  and  his  gasoline  being  nearly  all  gone. 
He  had  seen  me  start  down  when  the  Hun  shot  me,  and 
then  smash  up  in  No  Man's  Land.  That  afternoon 
they  had  gotten  a  report  from  the  EngHsh  that  I  had 
been  seen  to  get  out  of  the  wreck  and  jump  into  a  shell- 
hole  and  that  a  patrol  would  be  sent  out  that  night  to 
try  and  find  me.  I  had  sent  them  a  wireless  the  night 
before  but  it  had  not  reached  them,  and  when  I  tried 
to  telephone  had  been  unable  to  get  them.  Not  hear- 
ing from  the  English  any  report  as  to  the  result  of  the 
promised  patrol  they  had  naturally  concluded  that  I 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  203 

had  been  killed  or  was  at  best  a  prisoner,  more  prob- 
ably the  former,  and  the  Major  had  sent  in  a  report  to 
headquarters  that  I  was  missing.  I  most  sincerely 
hope  that  my  cable  reached  you  before  this  rumor  got 
out.  When  I  met  them  they  were  on  their  way  to  the 
front  to  see  what  news  they  could  get  of  me,  and  as 
you  may  imagine  they  were  a  bit  surprised  when  I 
yelled  at  them.  We  had  a  grand  reunion  and  I  think 
the  people  of  the  small  village  where  we  happened  to 
meet  thought  that  the  American  officers  had  gone 

crazy.    It  was  a  bit  dramatic.    M and  Hobey  did 

not  say  much  but  both  looked  as  though  they  were 
going  to  cry,  and  if  I  do  say  so  myself,  I  think  they 
were  all  glad  to  see  me.  The  Major  offered  to  send 
me  to  any  hospital  I  wanted,  to  Paris  even;  but  as  I 
knew  this  one  to  be  so  excellent,  and  near  at  hand,  I 
asked  to  come  here.  I  therefore  left  the  English  am- 
bulance and  went  back  to  the  squadron  in  the  light 
car  with  the  others,  and  then  came  directly  here.  At 
the  squadron  they  were  no  less  siu-prised  to  see  me 

than  the  Major,  M and  Hobey  had  been. 

My  knee  was  very  painful  and  swollen,  so  I  thought 
it  best  to  take  no  chances,  even  though  the  wound  did 
not  on  the  surface  look  as  though  it  amounted  to 
much.  I  am  glad  I  did,  for  an  X-ray  disclosed  three 
fragments  of  the  bullet  lodged  against  the  bone.  They 
operated  at  once,  and  I  think  made  a  very  good  job 
of  it.  I  did  not  remember  that  ether  made  you  feel 
so  sick.  It  is  too  bad  there  is  no  way  of  telhng  when 
one  is  going  to  get  shot,  so  as  not  to  have  to  take 
ether  on  top  of  a  full  meal. 


204  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

May  27. 

I  have  been  writing  this  letter  in  instalments  each 
day  as  I  have  had  the  chance,  but  it  seems  to  have 
run  on  a  great  deal  already,  so  I  guess  I  had  better 
bring  it  to  a  close  and  get  it  off.  I  asked  the  doctor 
the  day  before  yesterday  morning  how  much  longer  I 
should  probably  be  here,  and  he  said  two  weeks.  I 
hope  you  will  not  be  worried  at  my  being  in  the  hos- 
pital longer  than  I  said  in  my  cables  that  T  should  be. 
The  wound  has  not  proved  much  more  than  I  at  first 
thought,  but  the  fact  that  the  poisonous  fragments  of 
the  bullet  were  in  my  knee  for  somewhat  over  twenty- 
four  hours  before  they  could  be  removed,  has  made  it 
rather  slower  in  healing  than  I  had  expected.  I  still 
exercise  it  three  or  four  times  daily,  which  is  a  nuis- 
ance, but  has  at  least  resulted  in  my  now  being  able 
to  bend  my  knee  almost  as  far  as  the  other. 

The  men  from  the  squadron  have  brought  me  both 
good  news  and  bad  during  the  past  few  days.  Of  the 
former  I  am  dehghted  to  hear  that  Jim  Hall  is  not  dead 
but  a  prisoner  and  only  slightly  wounded.  He  has 
gone  through  so  much  and  his  luck  has  so  wonderfully 
pulled  him  out  of  the  fij*e  before,  that  I  almost  felt  it 
in  my  bones  that  it  would  not  desert  him  this  time. 
He  is  a  great  fellow  and  the  Huns  had  better  keep 
their  eye  on  him  or  they  will  wake  up  some  fine  morn- 
ing to  find  him  back  in  France.  When  I  spoke  above 
of  having  been  so  badly  dressed  when  I  was  shot  down 
I  had  in  mind  also  this  very  chance  of  being  taken 
prisoner.  When  I  was  brought  down  I  certainly  looked 
like  a  soldier  and  had  nothing  with  me  to  prove  that 
I  was  an  officer.  In  my  haste  to  get  off  I  had  even 
forgotten  my  pocketbook.    This  is  a  great  mistake, 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  205 

and  I  shall  not  fly  on  the  lines  again  without  money 
in  my  pocket  and  enough  uniform  to  prove  my  rank. 
If  the  Huns  had  caught  me  they  would  probably  have 
had  me  cracking  rocks  behind  the  lines  or  going  in  for 
some  other  form  of  outdoor  sport  of  this  kind.  Their 
treatment  of  prisoners  is  generally  atrocious,  but  offi- 
cers are  evidently  treated  much  better  than  the  men, 
especially  officers  in  the  Flying  Corps.  Being  an  offi- 
cer, one  might  as  well  have  the  benefit  of  this  and  then 
one  could  probably  do  something  to  better  the  condi- 
tion of  the  men. 

Have  you  noticed  in  the  papers  how  Lieut.  Fonck 
has  been  going  ?  Forty-five  oflacially  now  and  with  any 
luck  he  will  easily  beat  Guynemer^s  record.  He  is  a 
wonderful  pilot  and  a  perfectly  marvellous  shot,  and 
seems  to  me  to  be  easily  the  most  skilful  pursuit  pilot 
that  the  war  has  produced  so  far.  In  all  this  time  he 
has  only  gotten  one  bullet  in  his  machine,  and  that 
through  a  wing.  He  never  seems  to  get  himself  in  a 
tight  comer.  I  read  with  interest  the  clipping  you  sent 
me  about  him,  for  I  know  him,  as  he  was  in  Groupe  do 
Combat  12  when  I  was  there. 

June  2,  1918. 
About  a  week  ago  the  Hun  long-range  guns  fired  a 
few  shells  into  this  town,  four  of  which  exploded,  the 
first  doing  practically  all  the  damage.  All  the  shells 
landed  within  three  hundred  yards  of  the  hospital  and 
it  is  most  unpleasant,  for  one  feels  so  helpless.  I  was 
lying  in  bed  writing  in  the  morning  and  heard  the  gun 
go  off,  but  thought  nothing  of  it,  as  the  guns  firing  on 
the  lines  are  plainly  audible  from  here.  A  second  or 
so  later  a  big  shell  went  screaming  past  the  comer  of 


206  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

the  building,  followed  almost  immediately  by  a  loud 
explosion  as  it  landed.  This  first  shell  struck  squarely 
in  the  middle  of  a  military  laundry  where  a  lot  of 
women  and  young  girls  were  busy  washing  and  ironing 
soldiers'  clothes.  The  result  was  about  twenty-five 
killed  and  eighty  wounded,  the  great  majority  women. 
I  suppose  the  Huns  are  justified  in  firing  into  this  town 
when  one  considers  that  there  are  a  large  number  of 
troops  quartered  here;  but  just  the  same,  it  is  one  of 
the  worst  aspects  of  the  war.  For  an  hour  or  more  they 
were  carrying  by  under  the  window  of  our  room,  a  lot 
of  poor  women  and  girls  all  cut  and  covered  with 
blood,  and  their  cries  were  pitiful  to  hear.  Outside 
the  reception  room  there  soon  collected  a  crowd  of 
weeping  mothers  and  relatives,  and  it  made  your  heart 
sick  to  see  them.  It  is  bad  enough  when  the  wounded 
are  soldiers,  for  that  is  war;  but  when  it  comes  to 
women,  it  seems  like  something  worse  than  war. 
Granting  that  the  Huns  are  justified  in  shelling  this 
town  now,  one  cannot  but  remember  that  it  was  they 
who  started  this  hell  on  earth  for  their  own  ends. 
Forgiving  and  forgetting,  with  regard  to  such  as  they, 
is  to  my  mind,  as  I  have  said  before,  not  a  sign  of  a 
Christian  spirit  but  of  pure  weakness.  If  Christianity 
requires  us  to  forgive  them  I  am  afraid  that  I  am  no 
Christian.  We  have  no  right  to  forget,  and  the  mem- 
ory of  the  milhons  who  have  died  to  defeat  the  Huns 
forbids  that  we  should  do  so.  When  this  war  is  won, 
it  will  have  failed  in  one  of  its  greatest  purposes,  if  in 
the  years  to  come  the  Huns  are  not  made  to  pay  in 
full,  the  penalty  for  their  crimes,  so  that  they  may  per- 
haps some  day  come  to  realize  that  it  does  not  pay  to 
be  a  beast.    Do  you  wonder  that  so  many  wounded 


Lieutenant  Rene  Fonck,  the  ace  of  aces,  in  front  of  his  Spad. 

Lieutenant  Fonck  holds  a  cross  cut  from  the  machine  of  the  Hun  who 
was  credited  by  the  Germans  with  having  shot  Captain  Guynemer. 
Shot  down  by  IJeutenant  Fonck  three  weeks  after  Captain  Guy- 
nemer's  death,  near  Poperinghe,  Belgium. 


ESCADRILLE   LAFAYETTE  207 

men  are  anxious  to  get  at  them  again  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible? 

June  11,  1918. 

HOPITAL  DE   l'OceAN,   ViNCKEM,  BeLGIUM. 

At  last  it  is  definitely  decided  that  I  am  to  leave  this 
hospital  to-morrow — just  four  weeks  since  I  came  here. 
When  I  came  in  I  expected,  as  you  know,  to  be  laid 
up  for  only  a  short  time;  but  knees  seem  to  be  very 
slow  and  contrary  things  with  regard  to  getting  well. 
Have  been  taking  walks  each  day  of  a  couple  of  miles, 

so  you  see  I  am  all  put  together  again.    Major  T 

is  coming  for  me  to-morrow  to  take  me  back  to  the 
squadron,  stopping  on  the  way  at  a  French  review, 
where  a  general  is  to  confer  decorations.  Among  the 
recipients  of  the  Croix  de  Guerre  will  be  several  men 
from  the  squadron,  of  whom  your  angel  child  gets  a 
cross  with  palm.  This  for  making  a  darn  fool  of  him- 
self and  letting  a  Hun  shoot  him,  when  if  he  had  done 
as  he  should  have,  he  ought  to  have  plugged  the  Hun. 
It  seems  rather  funny  when  one  stops  to  think  of  it  to 
get  more  credit  for  being  shot  down  than  you  would 
for  shooting  down  the  other  fellow. 

Soon  after  writmg  my  last  letter  to  father,  the  whole 
hospital  was  evacuated  from  where  we  were  on  the  sea, 
and  we  were  moved  some  fifteen  miles  down  the  line. 
We  are  still  about  the  same  distance  from  the  front 
and  our  sausage  balloons  are  very  plainly  visible.  As 
I  was  taking  the  air  outside  the  hospital  after  supper 
a  few  evenings  ago,  a  lone  Hun  came  across  the  lines 
and  shot  down  two  of  our  balloons  in  flames.  The 
evening  before  another  one  tried  the  same  thing,  at 
the  same  time,  but  missed  the  balloon,  although  he 
forced  the  observers  to  jump  in  their  parachutes.    The 


208  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Boches  were  heavily  "archied,"  but  got  away  safely  both 
times,  and  I  met  a  Belgian  pilot*  the  other  day  who 
has  brought  down  seven  Hun  balloons  in  flames  in  the 
past  three  weeks.  You  see,  therefore,  that  ballooning 
is  not  such  sure  death  as  father  seemed  to  think;  true, 
they  are  more  dangerous  than  attacking  enemy  ma- 
chines, but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  a  great  deal 
easier  to  get. 

Another  evening,  a  few  days  ago,  I  was  taking  a  walk 
and  saw  something  happen  which  I  think  must  have 
occurred  but  a  very  few  times  during  the  war.  The 
Boches  were  intermittently  shelling  one  of  our  balloons 
with  a  big  gun.  They  were  coming  fairly  close,  but 
the  balloon  kept  changing  its  altitude  to  throw  them 
off  their  range,  and  it  is  not  often  that  a  balloon  is 
brought  down  by  shell  fire.  They  are  too  far  behind 
the  hues  and  the  range  is  too  elusive  to  make  it  pay. 
Both  sides  have  rather  given  up  shelHng  them,  although 
they  still  occasionally  indulge  in  the  pastime.  The 
evening  in  question  I  saw  a  shell  burst  a  considerable 
distance  above  the  balloon,  and  then  as  I  watched 
another  burst  several  minutes  later  and  perhaps  a 
hundred  yards  directly  below.  The  balloon  swung 
around  and  started  skyward,  at  the  same  time  drifting 
towards  us  in  the  Hght  breeze.  The  shell  had  cut  the 
cable,  a  most  remarkable  piece  of  luck  for  the  Huns 
when  you  consider  that  the  range  must  have  been  at 
least  eight  miles.  She  had  not  gone  far  when  two 
black  dots  dropped  from  the  basket  and  then  slowed 
up  as   their  parachutes  opened  up.     The  observers 

*  Lieut.  Coppens,  who  later  became  the  Belgian  ace  of  aces  and  at 
the  end  of  the  war  had  brought  down  about  35  German  observation 
balloons,  by  far  the  largest  number  of  balloons  ever  destroyed  by  one 
pilot. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  209 

came  sailing  down  as  their  balloon  went  sailing  away, 
getting  higher  and  higher  each  minute.  These  captive 
balloons  are  equipped  like  free  balloons  with  a  safety- 
valve,  etc.,  so  that  they  can  be  brought  quietly  down 
by  the  observers  in  case  they  break  away.  These  fel- 
lows evidently  got  frightened,  however,  and  jumped  as 
quickly  as  they  could,  without  even  stopping  to  open 
the  safety  valve.  Naturally  we  don't  want  to  lose  a 
balloon  with  all  the  equipment  in  the  basket,  if  it 
can  be  helped.  A  chasse  machine  was  sent  up  from 
a  nearby  field  and  shot  enough  non-incendiary  bullets 
into  the  gas  bag  to  let  it  quietly  down  in  our  hues. 

Perhaps  a  minute  after  the  observers  jumped,  and 
as  they  were  coming  down  side  by  side  in  their  para- 
chutes, the  Huns  took  another  pot  at  them,  and  the 
shell  seemed  to  burst  just  between  them,  and  very 
close;  but,  apparently,  did  no  damage.  It  must  be 
pretty  poor  fun  to  be  shot  at  while  one  is  hanging  to 
the  end  of  a  parachute  in  mid-air.  The  observer  in 
such  a  situation  is  so  utterly  helpless  that  it  has  always 
seemed  to  me  poor  sport  to  shoot  at  him,  but  it  has 
long  been  apparent  that  the  Huns  are  devoid  of  all 
sporting  instincts.  If  the  Boches  like  this  sort  of  thing 
I  suppose  we  might  as  well  give  them  a  dose  of  their 
own  medicine,  and  I  think  that  the  next  time  I  go 
ballooning  I  may  be  tempted  to  pot  the  observer  on 
his  parachute.  However,  there  is  no  use  in  trying  to 
cross  that  bridge  till  we  come  to  it. 
,  For  one  thing  I  shall  be  glad  to  leave  to-morrow 
and  that  is  so  as  to  get  away  from  the  night  bombing. 
The  Huns  have  not  hit  this  hospital  yet,  but  they 
dropped  one  bomb  a  few  nights  ago  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  it,  and  broke  some  windows,  which  is  quite 


210  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

close  enough.  This  section  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  high- 
road for  them  on  their  way  to  bomb  other  places,  so 
that  they  are  continually  passing  over  at  night  and  our 
''Archies''  blazing  away  at  them.  One  feels  that  they 
may  let  one  go  at  any  minute,  and  this  keeps  wounded 
men  in  a  very  nervous  state,  for  they  feel  so  helpless 
and  with  their  wounds  still  fresh  in  their  minds,  they 
have  no  desire  to  collect  any  more  or  be  blown  to 
pieces  in  their  beds.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  worse 
side  of  the  war  or  any  dirtier  trick  than  this  bombing 
of  hospitals.  To  illustrate  the  terrific  power  of  a  big 
bomb,  I  will  tell  you  what  happened  several  months 
ago  in  our  more  southern  sector.  One  night  a  large 
bomb  fell  squarely  in  the  centre  of  a  main  road,  a  road 
with  a  solid  foundation  and  paved  with  sturdy  French 
cobblestones.  Shortly  afterwards  an  ambulance  came 
along  in  the  dark  and  ran  into  the  hole.  This  was  not 
a  Ford  ambulance,  but  a  big  French  ambulance,  larger 
than  an  ordinary  big  limousine  car.  Standing  a  little 
way  off  up  the  road  the  ambulance  was  not  visible  at 
all,  being  completely  below  the  level  of  the  road  in  the 
bomb  hole.  This  will  give  you  some  idea  of  its  size. 
One  of  our  cars  came  along  a  while  later  and  helped 
rescue  the  wounded  men  from  the  ambulance  and  take 
them  to  a  hospital. 

The  other  day  I  met  the  Colonel  who  is  in  charge  of 
this  hospital  walking  in  one  of  the  corridors  with 
Queen  EHzabeth.  I  saluted  as  I  passed  them  and 
then  the  Colonel  called  me  back  and  introduced  me. 
The  Queen  had  evidently  been  surprised  to  see  an 
American  there  and  wanted  to  know  what  was  the 
matter.  She  is  most  attractive  and  was  very  kind 
and  considerate. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  211 

Next  day  I  was  standing  in  front  of  the  hospital 
with  a  couple  of  British  officers  I  know,  when  who 
should  come  up  but  the  Prince  of  Teck,  the  brother 
of  Queen  Mary  of  England.  He  is  a  Brig.-General  in 
the  Enghsh  army.  He  stopped  and  chatted  for  about 
five  minutes  and  wanted  to  know  what  had  happened 
to  me.  Now,  of  course,  I  do  not  mean  to  boast  by 
telling  you  all  this;  but  I  just  want  you  to  realize  the 
kind  of  a  fellow  I  am,  and  appreciate  the  society  in 
which  I  move.  When  I  come  home  I  don^t  know 
whether  I  shall  be  able  to  bring  myself  to  associate 
with  you  ordinary  folks  or  not ! ! 

But  ''sans  blag^'  I  did  stop  and  talk  with  the  Queen 
for  about  five  minutes,  or  rather  she  stopped  and 
talked  with  me.  She  started  right  off  in  English,  so  I 
did  not  have  a  chance  to  air  my  French  on  her.  For 
future  reference  I  might  say  that  it  is  technique  or 
etiquette  or  whatever  you  call  it,  when  one  is  passing 
the  time  of  day  with  royalty,  to  allow  them  to  start 
the  conversation.  I  spoke  of  having  seen  her  last 
smnmer  when  she  came  with  the  King  to  Groupe  12,  to 
confer  decorations;  but  I  don't  think  she  understood 
me  very  well,  for  she  looked  at  me  in  a  blank  sort  of 
way,  as  if  she  thought  my  wound  had  affected  my 
brain.  I  did  not  see  the  King  this  time.  Both  he  and 
the  Queen  seem  to  keep  very  busy,  and  do  a  great  deal 
of  good;  they  tell  me  the  latter  sometimes  assists  as  a 
nurse  in  the  operating  room,  and  I  know  she  goes  very 
frequently  to  the  hospitals. 

There  are  a  couple  of  Enghsh  ofiicers  here  in  the 
hospital,  one  of  them  an  observer  of  a  British  two- 
seater,  who  was  shot  in  the  leg  a  week  ago  while  flying 
over  Zeebrugge,  taking  pictures  of  the  blocking  ships 


212  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

sunk  there.  He  did  not-  have  the  luck  I  did,  for  the 
explosive  bullet  caught  him  above  the  ankle  and  ex- 
ploded, almost  tearing  his  leg  off.  He  said  he  looked 
down  and  saw  his  foot  turned  around  backwards,  and 
then  doubled  up  his  knee  to  try  and  stop  some  of  the 
bleeding.  Fortunately  his  pilot  was  not  hit,  so  was 
able  to  bring  him  right  back  and  landed  on  the  beach 
in  front  of  the  hospital.  They  had  his  leg  off  in  half 
an  hour  after  he  landed.  This  boy's  spirit  is  something 
wonderful,  and  you  would  think  he  had  lost  a  ten  cent 
piece  instead  of  his  right  leg  about  six  inches  below 
the  knee.  He  seems  about  twenty  years  old,  and  is  a 
very  attractive  fellow.  He  is,  I  think,  the  most  cheer- 
ful man  in  the  ward,  and  to  hear  him  talk  he  seems  to 
be  looking  forward  with  great  amusement  to  trying  to 
learn  to  walk  properly  with  an  artificial  leg.  He  is 
keen  to  get  a  Belgian  leg,  as  he  hears  they  are  lighter 
and  much  better  than  any  of  the  others,  and  with  this 
he  says  he  thinks  he  can  do  about  everything,  except 
that  he  has  his  doubts  about  being  able  to  dance. 
Even  this  man  with  his  leg  just  off  and  not  sewed  up 
yet,  is  made  to  exercise  his  knee  and  hip-joints  six 
times  a  day,  so  as  not  to  have  his  muscles  stiffen  up. 
It  is  wonderful  what  this  exercising  seems  to  do.  As 
you  may  imagine,  however,  it  is  rather  heroic  treat- 
ment, not  only  during  the  actual  exercising  but  after- 
wards, for  the  movement  starts  all  the  cut  muscles  to 
aching,  and  it  takes  them  quite  a  while  to  quiet  down, 
just  about  in  time  for  the  next  exercise.  This  English- 
man had  received  a  release  to  go  back  to  England  and 
finish  his  course  in  medicine,  the  same  day  he  was 
hm-t,  but  refused  it. 


ESCADRILLE  LAFAYETTE  213 

50  Rue  Bassano,  Paris,  June  17,  1918. 

I  finally  got  out  of  the  hospital  on  the  12th,  and 
after  getting  decorated  (some  hero,  eh  what?  Yah! 
Ha ! !)  went  back  to  the  squadron.  That  evening  a 
patrol  was  going  out  so  I  borrowed  a  machine  and 
went  along  to  see  if  the  lines  were  still  there.  There 
was  not  a  great  deal  going  on.  I  was  not  leading  the 
patrol,  but  was  bringing  up  the  rear  as  an  extra  man, 
for  I  was  feeUng  a  bit  seedy  still  and  did  not  want  to 
have  to  stay  through  the  whole  patrol  if  I  did  not  feel 
like  it.  Saw  one  chance  to  jump  three  Hun  single- 
seaters  but  waited  for  a  minute  to  let  the  leader  of 
our  patrol  start  things;  he  evidently  did  not  see  them, 
and  then  it  was  too  late.  We  make  it  a  hard  and  fast 
rule  that  other  members  of  a  patrol  shall  let  the 
leader  start  a  fight  in  his  own  way;  for  if  two  or  three 
try  to  start  it,  each  according  to  his  own  ideas,  every- 
thing gets  balled  up.  A  little  later  I  saw  what  I  took 
to  be  a  Hun  two-seater  and  thought  I  might  be  able 
to  take  it  out  on  him  for  what  one  of  his  pals  did  to 
me  on  May  15th.  Was  behind  the  patrol  by  myself 
at  the  time  so  did  not  have  to  bother  about  the  leader. 
Started  to  dive  down  after  him  and  got  myself  all 
''het  up"  over  the  prospect,  only  to  discover  when  I 
got  nearer  that  he  was  an  Englishman. 

I  felt  a  little  queer  and  out  of  practice  on  the  lines. 
After  laymg  off  for  a  month  I  think  it  takes  a  couple 
of  flights  to  get  one's  hand  in  again.  In  climbing  into 
the  machine  I  strained  my  knee  a  little,  and  when  I 
came  back  it  had  swelled  up  considerably,  so  I  thought 
I  had  better  go  easy  for  a  while,  as  I  have  no  desire 
to  spend  any  more  time  in  the  hospital.  I  therefore 
packed  up  and  came  to  Paris  the  next  day,  bringing 


214  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

all  my  things  with  me,  as  I  am  not  going  back  to  the 
Lafayette.  I  was  to  go  out  as  C.  O.  of  a  new  squadron, 
but  upon  arriving  here  found  that  they  had  not  been 
able  to  wait  until  I  was  in  shape  for  active  duty,  so 
had  given  it  to  another  man.  I  believe  I  am  down  to 
take  the  next  squadron  formed,  and  had  expected  to 
go  back  to  the  Lafayette  again  the  end  of  this  week 
and  fly  with  them  until  further  orders  came.  How- 
ever, orders  came  this  morning,  relieving  me  from  duty 
with  the  Lafayette  and  directing  me  to  report  to  Head- 
quarters in  a  few  days.  I  shall  therefore  leave  Paris 
the  end  of  this  week,  and  will  let  you  know  when  I 
find  out  what  I  am  to  be  given  to  do. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.   E.  F. 


"  Death  the  Great  Reaper  " 

The  Insignia  of  13th  Aero  Squadron,  A.  E.  F. 
Copied  from  author's  plane.  Nicies  in  the  blade 
of  the  scythe  indicate  individual  pilots'  victo- 
ries; gravestones  show  combined  victories  of 
the  squadron  up  to  October  22, 1918,  when  the 
author  left  it. 


02 


Paris,  June  22nd,  1918. 

Just  a  line  as  I  am  in  rather  a  rush  and  have  not  got 
a  great  deal  of  news  for  you  anyhow,  Paris  being  a 
much  less  fertile  place  for  news  than  the  front. 

I  have  been  made  Commanding  Officer  of  the  13th 
Aero  Sqdn.,  a  new  chasse  squadron  being  formed.  Am 
lucky  in  being  equipped  with  French  Spads,  the  ma- 
chine which  I  have  always  flown  at  the  front,  and 
which  I  prefer  to  all  others.  The  machines  are  of  the 
latest  type,  carrying  two  machine  guns,  and  should  be 
very  good  if  we  have  any  luck  with  the  motors  and  I 
can  get  some  first-class  mechanics.  Have  been  rush- 
ing around  here  in  Paris  for  the  past  few  days  finding 
out  about  my  squadron  equipment.  Have  most  of  the 
machines  already  and  am  going  to  a  field  near  Paris 
this  afternoon  to  try  out  a  couple  of  them.  The  bodies 
of  the  machines  are  very  strongly  built  and  I  have 
been  to  the  factory,  where  I  went  over  with  the  build- 
ers some  weak  points  which  had  gradually  developed 
at  the  front.  I  was  much  encouraged  to  find  that 
they  knew  of  all  these  faults  and  had  corrected  them 
by  reinforcing  and  changing  the  construction.  I  don't 
want  to  have  any  of  my  men  losing  his  wings  nor,  in 
fact,  would  I  care  to  lose  my  own.  These  planes  are, 
I  think,  the  strongest  chasse  machines  made,  and  it  is 
a  great  comfort  to  a  pilot  to  feel  that  he  has  this  extra 
strength  in  his  machine  in  case  he  gets  in  a  tight  place 
and  has  to  put  his  plane  to  unusual  strains. 

To-morrow  I  go  to  headquarters  near  the  American 
front  to  see  about  my  personnel  and  pilots  and  shall 

217 


218  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

then  probably  return  to  Paris  within  a  week  to  see 
further  about  equipment.  I  am  very  glad  to  get  this 
squadron,  as  it  will  be  fun  getting  it  organized  and 
then  later  on  trying  out  at  the  front  my  ideas  of  the 
best  chasse  methods.  There  is  much  organization 
work  to  be  done,  however,  and  I  shall  consider  myseK 
lucky  if  I  can  have  the  men  flying  on  the  lines  a  month 
from  now.  You  see,  therefore,  that  I  shall  be  out  of 
active  flying  for  a  month  and  by  that  time  should  be 
in  perfect  condition  for  anything.  Indeed,  I  have 
been  getting  along  so  well  that  I  am  in  good  condition 
now.  My  knee  is  still  a  little  weak  if  I  should  try  to 
run,  for  instance,  but  beyond  that  I  hardly  notice  it. 


Paris,  June  30,  1918. 
Since  last  writing  you  I  have  been  out  to  the  Ameri- 
can front*,  where  we  shall  soon  be  flying,  and  am  now 
in  Paris  again,  making  final  arrangements  about  the 
machines,  equipment,  and  pilots  for  my  squadron.  I 
flew  down  last  Sunday  and  it  is  a  long  trip,  as  far  as 

the  old  journey  from  Paris  to  Dunkirk.    M has 

been  assigned  to  my  squadron  and  will  be  one  of  the 
flight  commanders.  I  am  getting  two  other  men  who 
have  had  some  experience  at  the  front,  to  act  as  the 
other  two  flight  commanders.  Three  experienced  men 
is  the  least  number  one  can  get  along  with  in  a  squad- 
ron. This  makes  fifteen  perfectly  green  men  in  the 
squadron;  but  we  must  do  this,  having  so  few  experi- 
enced pilots.  I  intend  to  bend  all  my  energies  at  first 
to  keeping  these  fellows  from  going  too  strong  and  get- 
ting themselves  killed  before  they  know  enough;  to  be 

*  Region  of  Toul. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.       219 

able  to  protect  themselves.  I  don^t  care  if  the  squad- 
ron does  not  bring  down  many  Huns  for  the  first  month 
or  two,  if  the  pilots  can  keep  out  of  serious  trouble 
and  learn  the  game.  If  they  can  do  this,  I  think  they 
will  in  the  end  accomplish  much  more.  Am  glad  to 
say  that  our  sector  is  a  fairly  quiet  one,  and  thus  a 
very  favorable  place  to  train  new  men. 

As  to  the  question  of  my  coming  home,  I  am  afraid 
that  is  impossible,  for  several  reasons.  I  read  carefully 
what  you  said  about  it,  but  you  are  wrong  on  some  of 
your  information.  The  French  do  not  take  their  men 
away  from  the  front  after  six  months;  and,  in  fact,  a 
pilot's  greatest  efficiency  is  not  reached  until  he  has 
been  there  longer  than  that,  for  he  really  cannot  learn 
the  game  in  less  than  six  months  at  the  front.  There 
have  been  one  or  two  remarkable  exceptions,  perhaps; 
but  I  think  it  usually  takes  considerably  more  than 
six  months.  Take  some  of  the  great  French  pilots  as 
an  example  of  service  at  the  front:  Guynemer  was 
there  two  and  a  half  years;  Fonck  has  been  at  it  for 
more  than  two  years  and  so  has  Deullin,  and  I  could 
mention  many  others. 

TouL,  July  26,  1918. 
It  is  not  long  after  daylight  and  I  am  sitting  on  the 
flying  field  in  my  combination  waiting  for  a  telephone 
call  notifying  us  that  some  Fritzie  has  ventured  across 
the  lines,  and  needs  attention.  As  a  rule  the  C.  0. 
escapes  this  rather  tiresome  business,  which  is  taken 
care  of  by  the  other  members  of  the  squadron,  but 
being  short  of  experienced  pilots,  I  am  for  the  present 
myself  acting  as  a  flight  commander  until  one  of  the 
other  men  has  had  sufficient  experience  to  relieve  me. 


220  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Don't  like  the  idea  of  a  lot  of  green  pilots  flying  on  the 
lines  without  an  old  pilot  to  lead  them. 

We  have  not  had  much  excitement  as  yet.  The 
second  day  of  active  work  on  the  lines  one  of  my 
patrols  ran  onto  a  lone  two-seater,  got  some  shots  at 
him,  and  he  was  officially  confirmed  as  down  before 
they  got  back  to  the  field.  Unfortunately  for  us,  how- 
ever, further  reports  came  in  a  couple  of  days  later 
that  he  had  not  gone  down  at  all  but  had  pulled  up, 
after  faUing  in  a  vrille  to  within  a  couple  of  hundred 
metres  of  the  ground.  His  spin  was  just  the  old  trick 
to  escape,  and  after  the  patrol  passed  on  he  came  back 
on  the  fines  again,  so  that  washed  out  that  Boche. 

The  next  day  I  was  myself  leading  a  patrol  and 
spotted  a  single  two-seater  under  us  just  over  the  lines. 
I  attacked  and  one  of  the  other  men  with  me.  Fired  a 
hundred  rounds  at  less  than  100  yards  range  and  the 
Hun  went  off  smoking  like  a  Christmas  pudding  from 
the  place  where  his  gas  tank  should  be  and  I  thought 
he  was  going  to  take  fire.  He  did  not,  however,  but 
pulled  up  close  to  the  ground  and  then  was  seen  to 
land  in  a  field  behind  his  own  fines.  This  was  the 
first  fight  I  had  had  since  being  wounded,  and  found 
myself  very  rusty,  after  my  two  months'  lay-off.  The 
Hun  manoeuvred  weU  and  I  had  considerable  difficulty 
keeping  myself  covered  by  his  tail,  but  should  cer- 
tainly have  had  him  at  that.  I  had  not  been  able  to 
get  the  necessary  fittings  for  my  own  sight,  so  had 
nothing  but  an  emergency  sight  to  which  I  am  not 
accustomed,  and  of  which  I  had  had  to  leave  the  regu- 
lation to  the  armorers,  owing  to  many  other  things 
keeping  me  busy.  I  had  trouble  in  lining  these  sights 
up  and  was  much  slower  in  shooting  than  I  should 
have  been.    Once  when  I  thought  I  did  have  it  on  him 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        221 

I  noticed  my  tracer  bullets  going  over  the  Hun's  head. 
Upon  returning  to  the  field  I  tested  my  guns  and 
sights  on  the  target  and  found  them  to  be  six  feet  out. 
Moral — never  let  any  one  else  regulate  your  sights,  a 
moral  which  I  already  fully  appreciated  and  have 
always  followed  and  shall  certainly  never  stray  from 
again.  Have  not  had  another  shot  since,  as  we  have 
been  having  some  bad,  windy  weather,  but  this  cannot 
last  and  I  am  hoping  soon  to  get  even  for  my  experi- 
ence of  May  15th. 

The  squadron  is  coming  along  pretty  well,  and  I  now 
have  my  full  quota  of  pilots,  and  we  are  making  regular 
patrols.  In  the  fight  the  other  day  when  I  did  not  get 
that  two-seater,  tv/o  of  the  new  men  got  separated  from 
the  patrol  and  lost  themselves,  finally  landing  far  to 
the  South.  This  in  spite  of  all  my  talking  about  the 
importance  of  studying  the  map,  and  that  before  allow- 
ing any  new  pilot  to  go  on  the  Hues,  we  have  taken 
them  around  the  whole  sector  a  couple  of  times,  well 
behind  the  lines,  so  that  they  could  get  their  bearings. 
They  finally  got  back  all  right  without  breaking  any- 
thing, and  I  have  now  instituted  a  class  in  the  geogra- 
phy of  the  sector  for  them  and  another  man,  who  got 
lost  and  broke  his  machine  in  landing.  Have  told 
them  that  they  don't  fly  until  they  can  pass  my  exami- 
nation— one  of  them  flunked  last  night.  Am  doing 
the  same  thing  for  all  new  pilots  coming  to  the  squad- 
ron. This  business  of  getting  lost  and  having  forced 
landings  in  consequence,  is  too  expensive  both  in  pilots 
and  machines  and  is  usually  the  result  of  pure  careless- 
ness or  boneheadedness.  The  men  are  all  anxious  to 
fly,  so  I  think  they  will  soon  learn  their  lesson  in 
geography. 

The  new  American  pilots  coming  to  the  front  are 


222  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

very  encouraging,  for  they  are  as  a  whole  a  very  nice 
lot  of  boys,  keen,  and  anxious  to  get  some  Huns. 
There  are,  of  course,  some  mediocre  specimens,  but 
they  are  the  exception  and  the  average  is  much  better 
than  among  the  French  pilots  with  whom  I  trained, 
both  in  skill  and  morale.  I  do  not  mean  this  at  all  as 
a  criticism  of  the  French,  for  a  comparison  of  our  men 
when  we  are  just  entering  the  war,  and  still  have  all 
our  best  to  draw  upon,  with  the  French  material  after 
four  years  of  war,  when  the  majority  of  their  best 
young  men  have  been  killed,  would  be  distinctly  unfair. 
The  trouble  is  to  keep  our  men  from  going  too  strong 
at  first  and  getting  themselves  into  trouble  before 
they  have  had  sufficient  experience  to  be  able  to  pro- 
tect themselves.  You  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  we  are 
insisting  on  team  work  and  the  patrols  sticking  to- 
gether, and  are  discom-aging  the  great  tendency  for 
J  one  man  to  try  to  dash  off  by  himself  and  be  a  hero  at 
the  expense  of  the  whole.  Any  man  who  leaves  a 
patrol  for  such  a  purpose  will  be  put  on  the  ground 
for  a  couple  of  weeks  and  confined  to  camp,  and  if  he 
repeats  the  performance  I  shall  send  him  to  the  rear. 
I  think  the  sticking  together  plan  will  give  better 
results  in  the  long  run  and  certainly  less  losses,  and 
after  all  this  is  the  combination  that  we  are  after. 

I  had  a  thrill  a  couple  of  weeks  ago  when  I  sent  a 
new  man  up  for  his  first  ride  in  a  Spad.  In  getting  off 
the  field,  which  is  rather  rough,  he  bumped  a  bit  and 
bent  an  axle  so  that  the  wheel  was  at  an  angle  of  about 
45  degrees,  with  the  axle  almost  touching  the  ground. 
I  knew  that  if  he  bounced  at  all  when  he  landed  the 
wheel  would  probably  snap  off  or  that  the  axle  would 
at  least  catch  in  the  ground  and  throw  the  machine 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        223 

over.  As  it  was  his  first  trip  he  would  probably  land 
fast  so  as  to  be  sure  not  to  lose  his  speed  too  soon,  and 
I  had  visions  of  seeing  him  turn  over  at  sixty  miles  an 
hour.  I  said  good-by  to  that  new  machine  and  only 
hoped  that  the  pilot  would  not  be  killed  or  seriously 
injured.  There  is  almost  nothing  one  can  do  to  pre- 
vent such  an  accident  once  a  machine  gets  up  with  a 
bad  wheel,  except  stand  on  the  side  hues  and  hope  for 
the  best.  While  this  man  was  flying  around  the  field 
I  sent  a  man  out  with  a  spare  wheel  to  wave  it  at  him 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  catch  on  to  the  fact  that 
there  was  something  wrong  with  his  wheel  and  land  as 
slowly  as  possible.  Also  sent  for  the  doctor  and  the 
ambulance,  got  a  stretcher  ready  and  had  men  out  on 
the  field  with  fire  extinguishers.  A  cold-blooded  per- 
formance, perhaps,  but  I  thought  we  might  as  well  be 
ready  for  anything. 

Luck  was  with  us,  however,  and  the  pilot  as  he 
passed  over  the  field  saw  the  man  waving  the  spare 
wheel  and  realized  for  the  first  time  that  something 
must  be  wrong.  When  flying  your  lower  wings  pre- 
vent you  from  seeing  any  part  of  the  landing  carriage. 
I  held  my  breath  when  the  plane  came  down  to  land 
but  if  the  pilot  had  been  flying  for  five  years  and  had 
tried  a  thousand  times  he  could  not  have  made  a  softer 
landing.  The  bad  axle  held  and  the  plane  rolled  along 
and  stopped  as  though  there  was  nothing  at  all  the 
matter. 

TouL,  August  6th,  1918. 
Here  I  have  gone  and  let  my  letter-writing  interval 
increase  to  ten  days  again,  but  without  making  too 
many  excuses  I  do  seem  to  have  very  little  time  to 


224  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

myself.  What  with  trying  to  instruct  these  new  men 
and  also  run  the  squadron,  keep  the  planes  in  condi- 
tion, etc.,  time  does  not  hang  at  all  heavily  on  my 
hands. 

Have  had  a  few  scraps  since  last  writing  and,  as  I 
wrote  you,  I  at  first  found  myself  rather  rusty,  but  did 
better  in  the  last  one.  One  fight  with  a  two-seater  on 
July  31st  resulted  in  some  long-range  shooting,  but  he 
was  too  far  in  his  own  lines,  and  saw  me  too  soon,  to 
allow  me  to  get  to  close  quarters,  so  nothing  happened. 

On  the  morning  of  the  first  I  had  two  of  my  new  men 
out,  and  we  ran  across  four  Fokker  bi-planes.  They 
are  a  new  Hun  single-seater  chasse  machine.  We  had 
the  altitude  and  I  put  my  patrol  in  the  sun  in  the 
hope  of  being  able  to  surprise  them,  but  they  saw  us 
before  we  got  within  shooting  distance.  I  tackled  one 
and  one  of  the  new  men  another,  while  the  third  man 
of  my  patrol  stayed  up  to  protect  the  rear  according 
to  orders.  I  fired  at  rather  long  range  and  did  not  go 
in  very  close,  for  I  caught  sight  of  my  companion  chas- 
ing one  Boche  down  below  the  others,  forgetting  en- 
tirely in  his  zeal  that  it  is  a  good  idea  to  watch  one's 
tail.  I  accordingly  laid  off  to  try  and  watch  him,  but 
finally  ended  in  losing  sight  of  him  in  the  heavy  mist, 
and  by  that  time  it  was  too  late  to  continue  after  the 
other  Huns.  I  think  they  must  have  been  a  green 
bunch  like  ourselves,  for  they  manoeuvred  badly  and 
one  of  them  dove  madly  for  home  the  instant  he  saw 
us,  as  though  he  was  scared  to  death.  I  did  catch 
sight  of  one  of  them  going  down  for  a  thousand  metres 
in  a  vertical  nose  dive.  The  boy  who  followed  the 
Hun  down  too  low  got  some  good  close  shots  at  him 
and  was  not  bothered  by  the  others,  who  were  evi- 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        225 

dently  afraid  to  follow  him  with  the  other  man  and 
myself  still  above  them.  The  infantry  reported  the 
fight  and  said  that  two  of  the  Huns  were  still  going 
down  vertically  on  their  noses  at  500  metres  from  the 
ground  when  they  lost  sight  of  them  in  the  mist.  As 
the  fight  took  place  at  4,000  metres  I  think  those  Huns 
must  have  at  least  been  a  bit  scared,  for  a  man  does 
not  dive  3,500  metres  on  his  nose  for  the  fun  of  the 
thing.  It  was  impossible  to  see,  however,  whether  or 
not  they  crashed,  and  on  account  of  the  mist  and  our 
being  three  or  four  miles  in  the  Boche  lines  no  confirma- 
tion could  be  obtained. 

In  the  afternoon  I  was  out  again,  this  time  with 
three  of  the  new  men.  We  were  at  5,000  metres  and 
had  gone  into  the  Hun  lines  to  escort  some  of  our  big- 
ger planes  home  from  a  long-distance  day-bombing  ex- 
pedition. Nothing  happened  but  a  lot  of  "Archies," 
and  we  had  just  left  the  big  machines  after  bringing 
them  back  into  our  lines,  when  I  spotted  three  Httle 
black  specks  in  the  distance  far  within  the  Boche  ter- 
ritory. They  had  evidently  been  following  our  bomb- 
ers. I  never  thought  we  could  catch  them  and  they 
were  too  far  in  to  pick  a  fight,  which  would  be  the  first 
any  of  my  patrol  had  ever  had.  I  followed  them  any- 
how to  see  where  they  would  go  and  we  chased  along 
far  behind  them  with  the  sun  directly  in  our  backs.  We 
must  have  been  fifteen  kilometres  over  the  fines  where 
the  Huns  were  not  expecting  trouble  and  with  the  sun 
behind  us  they  never  noticed  us  at  all.  This  business 
of  flying  far  in  the  enemy  territory  would  be  dangerous 
for  new  men  in  a  sector  like  Flanders  and  would  not 
pay,  but  in  this  quiet  sector  if  one  has  sufficient  alti- 
tude it  is  safe  enough.    As  you  know,  my  motto  is  '^ 


226  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

*' safety  first,"  particularly  with  the  new  men.  After 
we  had  followed  these  Huns  east  for  a  couple  of  min- 
utes they  turned  south  towards  the  lines  and  I  turned 
after  them,  trying  always  to  keep  the  patrol  directly 
between  them  and  the  sun.  Diving  slightly  and  with 
our  motors  almost  wide  open  we  overhauled  them 
rapidly  and  by  the  time  they  reached  their  own  lines 
we  were  only  about  500  yards  behind  and  above  them. 

Up  to  this  time  they  evidently  had  not  seen  us,  for 
they  naturally  expected  trouble  least  of  all  from  be- 
hind them  in  their  own  lines,  and  a  machine  behind 
you  and  above  and  in  the  sun  is  the  hardest  of  all  to 
see.  Suddenly  they  saw  us,  each  Hun  did  a  renverse- 
ment,  and  all  three  dove  under  us  back  into  their  own 
territory.  I  dove  on  one  and  gave  him  a  burst  as  he 
passed  under  me,  which  apparently  came  very  close, 
then  did  a  renversement  and  dropped  on  the  tail  of  an- 
other. Then  my  old  machine  gun  hoodoo  started 
again.  The  first  guns  which  I  had  on  my  new  ma- 
chine loaded  with  ordinary  bullets  had  worked  beauti- 
fully, but  I  had  been  hoping  to  get  a  balloon  so  had 
mounted  an  extra  size  balloon  gun  on  one  side  and 
filled  the  other  gun  with  nothing  but  incendiary  am- 
munition, not  so  reliable  a  combination,  but  the  only 
thing  for  balloons,  as  ordinary  armor-piercing  and 
tracer  ammunition  will  not  set  them  on  fire. 

These  Boches  were  Albatross  single-seater  chasse 
planes  and  certainly  were  a  good-looking  lot  with  their 
greenish  camouflaged  wings  and  tails,  and  bodies  made 
of  bright  yellow  laminated  wood.  I  fired  a  few  more 
shots  and  then  just  as  we  had  succeeded  in  separating 
one  Hun  from  his  companions  and  turning  him  to  one 
side,  I  got  the  best  chance  that  I  have  had  since  com- 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        227 

ing  to  the  front.  One  of  my  patrol  had  also  fired  at  a 
couple  of  the  Huns  and  had  had  machine-gun  trouble, 
and  I  saw  him  flying  along  beside  a  Boche  not  thirty 
metres  from  him,  just  as  if  they  were  doing  a  friendly 
patrol  together.  Each  was  making  little  nervous 
movements,  as  though  he  did  not  know  exactly  what 
to  do,  and  I  learned  later  that  my  man  had  been  try- 
ing to  fix  his  guns.  The  Boche  was  evidently  busy 
watching  him  and  did  not  notice  me  as  I  slipped  up 
behind  him,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  that  this  time  I 
would  take  my  time  and  make  sure  of  him.  Got  within 
about  forty  yards  and  laid  my  sights  very  carefully  in 
the  middle  of  the  pilot's  back,  pressed  both  triggers 
and  not  a  single  shot  did  I  get  out  of  either  gun.  One 
gun  had  stopped  just  as  I  stopped  shooting  the  time 
before,  so  that  I  did  not  notice  it,  and  I  thought  I 
had  cleared  the  stoppage  in  the  other.  Don't  think  I 
have  ever  been  much  madder  or  more  disappointed, 
and  as  on  a  former  occasion,  I  guess  I  said  some  things 
Mother  never  taught  me  in  Sunday-school.  I  was  so 
close  to  that  Hun  that  it  seemed  as  if  one  might  almost 
bring  him  down  with  a  brick. 

I  started  in  to  try  to  fix  my  guns  for  another  shot 
and  was  behind  the  Boche  and  within  easy  range  of 
him  for  at  least  a  half  minute  while  I  worked  with 
them.  One  gun  was  beyond  repair  as  the  band  of 
cartridges  had  broken,  but  I  managed  to  get  the  other 
one  going  again.  It  had  not  been  working  well,  shoot- 
ing only  half  a  dozen  shots  and  then  stopping,  so  I 
tried  to  get  very  close  and  make  my  shots  count. 
Twice  I  came  down  on  his  tail  and  gave  it  to  him  at 
forty  or  fifty  yards,  getting  a  few  shots  out  of  my  gun 
each  time,  the  Boche  at  the  same  time  doing  a  ren- 


228  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

versement.  Once  I  had  to  pull  to  one  side  to  prevent 
running  into  him,  and  several  times  I  saw  my  incen- 
diary bullets  go  into  his  machine.  It  is  a  wonder  he 
did  not  take  fire.  Each  time  I  looked  above  and  be- 
hind me  I  saw  my  Spads  circHng  overhead,  so  I  decided 
to  try  to  stick  to  my  friend  until  I  got  him.  Once  he 
fell  several  hundred  yards  apparently  out  of  control 
and  I  thought  I  had  him,  but  he  went  into  a  spiral 
again,  as  though  he  had  regained  control  of  his  ma- 
chine, so  I  kept  after  him  and  managed  to  clear  the 
stoppage  in  my  gun  for,  I  think,  the  fourth  time. 
The  Boche  kept  spiralHng  down  and  I  after  him,  really 
too  close,  for  I  could  not  bring  my  gun  to  bear.  We 
kept  this  up  while  we  went  down  a  thousand  metres 
or  more.  Finally  I  let  him  get  a  little  further  away 
and  was  then  able  to  drop  on  his  tail  again.  Just  as  I 
was  firing  at  him  for  the  last  time  there  came  the 
"clack,  clack,  clack"  of  machine  guns  close  at  hand 
and  I  felt  several  bullets  hit  my  machine.  Looking  up 
I  discovered  another  Hun  who  had  come  down  behind 
my  left  wing  to  within  forty  metres  without  my  ever 
seeing  him.  He  had  a  hard  right-angle  shot  but  did 
pretty  well  at  that,  putting  two  bullets  through  one  of 
my  wings,  one  of  which  split  an  interplane  strut  and 
half  severed  a  control,  and  two  others  through  the 
body  of  my  machine  a  little  behind  my  seat.  They 
did  no  damage,  however,  beyond  necessitating  putting 
on  a  new  wing  before  I  could  fly  my  plane  again.  I 
ducked  so  quickly  that  I  fell  into  a  vrille,  but  came 
out  after  making  one  turn,  as  I  had  no  desire  to  get 
both  Huns  over  my  head.  I  dodged  around  for  per- 
haps half  a  minute,  all  three  of  us  within  100  metres, 
fixed  my  gun  again  and  thought  that  if  I  could  get  a 


5.S 
o<  to 


fl  SO 
o  ©  ^ 

2^  a 
^©  fl 

I22 


pq  o 


4^x3fq 
«w  4^  ^ 


'^    CO    © 

O  © 


©  +i 


8 

^  §  o 

o 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        229 

good  shot  at  one  of  them  and  put  him  out  of  business 
or  scare  him  off,  I  could  then  have  an  even  thing  of  it 
with  the  other  or  get  away  if  necessary.  One^s  natural 
tendency  to  dive  straight  for  home  in  such  a  situation 
is  about  the  worst  thing  one  could  do,  as  it  gives  the 
other  man  just  the  chance  he  wants,  that  is,  to  dive 
directly  behind  and  rake  you  in  a  straightaway  shot. 
I  manoeuvred  with  these  Huns  to  keep  out  of  their 
line  of  fire  and  succeeded  in  doing  so  as  the  one  I  had 
been  attacking  was  too  sick  to  have  much  fight  left  in 
him.  Then  as  I  watched  the  Hun  behind  me,  a  third 
appeared  diving  down  on  my  back,  and  I  thought  the 
only  thing  to  do  was  to  get  out  and  run  for  home,  as  I 
do  not  fancy  mixing  it  up  with  three  of  them  low  down 
and  considerably  in  their  own  fines,  when  two  out  of 
the  three  have  the  jump  on  you.  The  Boche  below 
and  in  front  of  me  was  in  no  position  to  shoot,  so  I  did 
a  renversement  and  dove  under  the  two  who  were 
coming  down  from  the  rear,  having  first  succeeded  in 
getting  a  lucky  burst  into  one  of  them,  then  as  they 
passed  over  my  head  and  lost  me  for  an  instant  under 
their  wings,  did  another  renversement  so  as  to  head  for 
home,  and  dove  for  our  lines  with  my  motor  wide  open. 
By  the  time  the  Huns  located  me  again  I  had  a 
head  start  of  three  hundred  yards  and  no  Boche  ma- 
chine can  catch  one  such  as  those  we  have  when  div- 
ing slightly  with  the  motor  wide  open.  One  of  them 
did  some  long-range  shooting  but  came  nowhere  near 
me  and  I  came  home  flying  in  zigzags  with  all  the 
speed  I  could  muster.  That  is  the  first  time  I  have  ever 
been  caught  by  surprise  and  I  hope  the  last.  Don't 
imagine  it  happened  because  I  am  not  in  good  condi- 
tion or  anything  like  that,  as  I  was  never  more  wide- 


230  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

awake.  It  was  simply  a  case  of  being  interested  in 
the  Boche  in  front  of  me  and  relying  too  much  upon 
the  rest  of  my  patrol.  They  did  their  best  and  are 
very  good  men,  but  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  a  new 
man  to  follow  a  fast  fight  going  on  below  him,  espe- 
cially if  the  planes  are  diving  at  high  speed  as  I  and 
that  Boche  were.  The  show  started  at  5,000  metres 
and  I  ended  up  at  2,000;  the  rest  of  my  patrol  lost 
track  of  me  during  the  fight  and  I  never  saw  them 
again  until  we  got  back  to  our  field.  Then,  again,  the 
Hun  who  surprised  me  came  down  just  behind  one  of 
my  wings,  where  I  could  not  see  him.  It  is  fine  to 
surprise  the  other  fellow,  but  no  fun  at  all  when  you 
are  the  one  caught  napping.  At  first  I  thought  the 
two  who  attacked  me  when  I  was  after  the  third  Hun 
were  the  same  that  we  had  at  first  attacked,  but  from 
later  developments  it  seems  that  they  may  have  been 
two  others.  I  was  so  busy  getting  away  at  the  end 
of  the  fight  that  I  had  no  time  to  see  what  happened 
to  the  Huns,  and  reported  on  coming  back  that  I  could 
not  tell  whether  any  of  them  went  down  or  not.  Next 
day  in  comes  a  report  from  an  observation  post  that 
two  of  them  crashed  and  both  have  been  officially  con- 
firmed. 

You  asked  me  in  your  last  letter  how  many  I  now 
have  officially.  This  makes  only  four,  as  I  have  not 
had  one  confirmed  since  April  12,  in  spite  of  a  number 
of  fights  and  one  machine  gunner  of  a  two-seater  that 
I  shot  the  same  day  I  was  brought  down.  Was  begin- 
ning to  think  I  had  forgotten  how  to  shoot  entirely, 
but  getting  these  two  makes  me  feel  much  better  about 
being  myself  shot  up  by  them,  and  also  about  May 
15th.    The  other  members  of  oiu*  patrol  who  took  an 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        231 

active  part  in  the  fight  will  share  in  the  confirmations, 
it  being  impossible  to  be  sure  who  fired  the  shots 
which  brought  these  Huns  down.  I  was  very  glad,  as 
you  may  imagine,  to  have  had  a  hand  in  getting  the 
squadron's  first  two  official  Huns. 

TouL,  August  7th,  1918. 
I  think  the  Boche  aviation  in  this  sector  had  a  right 
lively  day  on  August  1st.  In  the  morning,  just  after 
my  patrol  had  attacked  the  four  Fokkers,  the  two 
that  we  did  not  shoot  at  ran  into  another  patrol  from 
one  of  the  other  squadrons  in  the  group.    This  other 

patrol  was  led  by  a  very  good  pilot  named  E with 

whom  I  used  to  be  in  the  Lafayette.  On  this  oc- 
casion he  had  two  green  men  with  him  and  he  chased 
those  two  Huns  almost  to  their  own  field,  twenty-five 
kilometres  behind  the  Boche  lines.  When  he  got  back 
there  he  saw  a  Hun  two-seater  flying  around  at  600 
metres  near  his  own  field,  so  dove  down  under  his  tail 

and  gave  it  to  him.     E had  too  much  speed  as  I 

did  on  May  15th  and  overshot  the  Boche,  so  he  climbed 
up  over  him  again  and  to  his  astonishment  saw  that 
there  was  no  one  in  the  machine-gunner's  cockpit. 
This  was  almost  too  good  to  be  true,  so  E pro- 
ceeded to  sit  on  the  Boche's  tail  at  30  yards'  range  and 
riddle  him,  the  pilot  being,  of  course,  helpless  so  far  as 
shooting  was  concerned.  That  poor  Hun  was  evi- 
dently up  simply  trying  out  his  motor  in  the  security 
of  his  own  back  areas  and  had  not  bothered  to  take 

his  gunner  with  him.     E finally  shot  him  at  only 

150  metres'  altitude  and  close  to  his  own  field  where  he 
crashed  head  first  into  the  ground  a  complete  wreck. 
In  the  meantime,  however,  one  of  the  Fokkers  had 


232  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

jumped  on  one  of  E ^s  companions  who  had  become 

separated,  and  as  the  man  was  perfectly  green  and 
close  to  the  ground  miles  behind  the  Boche  lines,  he 
was  in  a  bad  way.  Luckily  E saw  his  predica- 
ment, and  although  all  his  own  ammunition  was  gone 
he  dove  down  on  the  Fokker's  back  and  scared  him 
off  so  that  the  new  man  got  away.  Altogether  a 
mighty  fine  piece  of  work  on  E 's  part. 

Another  patrol  the  same  morning  chased  a  Hun 
almost  home  and  forced  him  to  land  in  a  wheatfield. 
They  then  proceeded  to  machine-gun  some  German 
hangars  from  a  couple  of  hundred  feet  in  broad  day- 
Hght.  Ticklish  work,  but  it  certainly  does  make  the 
Huns  nervous  never  to  know  when  they  are  safe. 

This  is  about  all  the  news  I  have  to  give  you.  The 
weather  has  been  poor,  so  that  I  have  only  been  out 
once  since  August  1st.  Went  out  at  dayhght  then 
and  flew  over  a  "coup  de  main"  being  made  by  the 
American  troops.  The  clouds  were  very  low  and  kept 
us  down  between  200  and  300  metres,  so  that  we  had 
a  wonderful  view  of  the  whole  show;  in  fact  I  have 
never  had  a  better  look  at  a  battlefield  under  heavy 
shell  fire.  The  area  covered  was  very  small,  but  it 
was  lively  enough  while  it  lasted.  Behind  us  as  we 
flew  above  the  fines  were  the  hundreds  of  brilliant 
flashes  from  our  own  artillery  and  beneath  us  and  in 
front  the  shells  breaking  continuously  on  the  German 
trenches  and  back  areas.  Occasionally  an  ammunition 
dump  would  flare  up  and  a  small  woods  seemed  to  be 
veritably  afive  with  biu-sting  shells.  At  our  low  alti- 
tude the  '^ departs"*  and  '^ arrives "f  were  very  loud 
and  clear  and  we  could  at  times  hear  the  rattle  of  the 

*  Discharge  of  a  camion.  f  Explosion  of  a  shell. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        233 

machine  guns  on  the  ground.  Our  observation  bal- 
loons were  hanging  just  below  the  heavy  drifting  clouds 
and  the  whole  effect  in  the  semi-darkness  of  the  dawn 
was  indeed  picturesque.  We  saw  no  enemy  planes  at 
all,  and  the  only  excitement  consisted  in  being  shot  at 
by  our  own  Infantry,  which  came  about  in  this  wise. 

The  sector  which  we  had  to  cover  was  very  short, 
only  four  or  ^ve  miles  long,  so  that  we  were  continu- 
ally passing  backward  and  forward  over  the  same 
ground.  Each  time  we  passed  the  point  of  a  small 
woods,  a  burst  of  machine-gun  fire  on  the  ground  was 
distinctly  audible.  No  tracer  bullets  were  used,  so 
that  it  was  not  possible  to  see  just  what  they  were 
shooting  at,  but  it  sounded  very  much  to  me  as  though 
we  were  the  targets.  A  machine  gun  fired  up  toward 
you  makes  a  different  sound  from  one  fired  along  the 
ground  at  the  enemy.  We  were  so  low,  however,  that 
one  could  hardly  believe  that  the  Infantry  could  fail 
to  recognize  us  as  their  own  planes. 

As  the  machine-gun  fire  contmued  to  break  out  each 
time  we  flew  by  the  little  woods  I  became  convinced 
that  they  were  firing  at  us  and  accordingly  avoided 
this  particular  spot.  Tried  my  best  to  locate  the  gims 
but  they  were  too  well  concealed.  I  was  mad  enough 
to  dive  down  and  give  them  a  dose  of  their  own  medi- 
cine, which  might  perhaps  teach  them  to  look  before 
they  shoot.  Our  green  divisions  in  line  for  the  first 
time  are  woefully  ignorant  of  the  Air  Service  and  one 
continually  hears  of  the  '' doughboys''  complaining 
that  they  never  see  any  planes  with  stars  on  their 
wings.  I  suppose  they  have  seen  the  star  insignia  in 
the  pictures  in  the  magazines  and  on  the  war  posters 
and  do  not  know  that  this  insignia  has  never  been  used 


234  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

on  the  front.  We  have  always  used  the  round  cocarde 
like  the  French  and  EngHsh,  except  for  the  different 
arrangement  of  the  colors.  There  is  nothing  more 
important  than  a  proper  understanding  of  the  avia- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  ground  forces  and  vice  versa, 
and  a  good  Haison  system  between  the  two.  The 
Huns  seem  to  be  way  ahead  of  any  of  the  Allies  on 
this  and  it  is  about  time  we  appreciated  its  importance. 

Sure  enough,  when  we  returned  to  our  field  and  ex- 
amined our  machines,  three  out  of  the  four  of  us  who 
had  been  on  the  patrol  had  from  two  to  four  bullet 
holes  in  his  wings  and  tail.  If  the  machine  gunners 
who  fired  at  us  had  not  been  very  poor  shots  they 
should  have  been  able  to  bring  us  down,  for  we  were 
flying  back  and  forth  only  two  hundred  yards  over 
their  heads  for  about  an  hour.  Later  in  the  day  a 
regular  army  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  Air  Service 
came  to  see  me  about  it,  saying  that  he  had  been  in 
the  front  lines  observing  the  attack  and  that  the  ma- 
chine guns  which  shot  us  up  had  been  just  to  one  side 
of  him.  He  had  sat  there  and  watched  them  shoot 
because  he  also  had  thought  that  we  were  Huns.  Now 
our  machines  do  not  look  anything  like  a  Hun  ma- 
chine to  one  at  all  familiar  with  them,  and  one  would 
think  that  by  the  tune  an  officer  had  risen  to  the  rank 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  Air  Service  it  would  have 
crossed  his  mind  that  it  might  be  a  good  idea  for  him 
to  study  his  own  planes  sufficiently  to  know  what  they 
look  like.  I  have  since  been  wondering  what,  believ- 
ing us  to  be  Huns,  they  thought  our  idea  was  in  flying 
over  their  heads  for  an  hour  without  ever  attempting 
to  fire  a  shot. 

The  Air  Service  is  unfortunately  burdened  with 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        235 

a  few  regular  officers  who  have  done  very  Uttle  war 
fljdng  on  the  front,  but  who  fail  to  appreciate  their 
lack  of  practical  experience.  I  admit  that  they  have 
not  had  much  opportunity  to  gain  experience,  and  a 
West  Point  training  will  not  teach  a  man  much  about 
how  an  air  patrol  on  the  hues  should  be  conducted. 
What  one  does  object  to,  however,  is  the  refusal  of 
some  of  these  officers  to  take  advice  from  men  who 
do  know  the  game  and  to  learn  something  about  it  in 
this  way.  There  is  one  man  of  whom  I  am  thinking 
who  is  a  most  glaring  example  of  this  small-minded 
type.  He  has  under  his  command  several  men  of  long 
service  on  the  front,  men  with  fine  records  who  have 
had  more  experience  in  air  fighting  than  any  one  in 
the  American  army,  yet  when  these  men  attempt  sug- 
gestions in  a  most  friendly  and  loyal  way  to  him  as 
their  commanding  officer,  he  makes  it  very  evident 
that  their  ideas  are  not  wanted  and  that  they  are  to 
understand  that  he  and  not  they  are  running  the  organ- 
ization. This  attitude  is  entirely  uncalled  for,  as  the 
suggestions  are  made  without  the  slightest  intimation 
of  any  desire  on  the  part  of  those  making  them  to 
controvert  his  authority  or  to  take  credit  to  them- 
selves for  their  ideas.  This  man  also  fails  entirely  to 
appreciate  that  an  officer  can  make  his  subordinates 
realize  that  he  means  what  he  says  without  being  un- 
necessarily disagreeable  to  them  and  thus  making  real 
co-operation  impossible.  The  best  officer  and  the  one 
whose  orders  are  never  questioned  is  the  one  whose 
men  love  and  admire  him  instead  of  fearing  him.  And 
the  best  soldiers  do  not  really  fear  any  officer,  anyhow, 
and  obey  the  bulldozing  type  only  out  of  respect  for 
his  position  as  their  conunander  and  not  from  any 


236  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

respect  or  fear  of  the  man.  My  friend  might  do  pretty 
well  as  the  commanding  officer  of  some  unit  where 
unruly  soldiers  were  sent  for  disciplinary  purposes,  but 
as  the  commander  of  an  Air  Service  unit  on  the  front 
he  is  mighty  poor. 

I  do  not  mean  this  as  a  general  criticism  of  the 
regular  army  officer  in  the  Air  Service,  for  there  are 
some  exceptionally  good  broad-minded  men  among 
them  who  are  just  the  opposite  of  the  type  I  have  at- 
tempted to  describe. 

TouL,  August  15,  1918. 
One  of  the  patrols  from  the  squadron  which  was 
out  early  this  morning  had  a  Uvely  fight  with  four 
Fokkers  and  incidentally  got  one  of  them.     The  man 

who  did  most  of  the  work  is  a  new  pilot  named  D 

who  had  as  yet  had  very  little  experience  and  had 
never  been  in  a  real  hot  scrap  before.  In  the  fight 
this  morning  he  first  drove  one  Fokker  off  his  fiight 
commander's  tail,  thus  extricating  his  companion  from 
a  very  serious  position.  He  then  attacked  another 
Hun  at  long  range  and  finally  still  a  third,  this  time  at 
very  close  quarters.  This  last  opponent  seems  to  have 
been  a  very  good  pilot,  for  as  they  went  at  each  other, 

head  on,  he  put  four  bullets  through  one  of  D 's 

wings,  one  in  his  radiator  and  another  half  shot  away 
a  strut.  Then  the  Hun  swung  around  behind  him  and 
fired  a  bullet  through  his  mirror.  The  mirror  is  de- 
signed to  assist  in  seeing  behind  one  and  in  a  Spad  is 
only  about  six  inches  from  the  pilot's  face.  The  next 
bullet  cut  the  support  of  the  mirror  and  blew  it  over- 
board, while  still  another  creased  his  helmet.     D 

said  he  was  scared  to  death,  but  he  certainly  did  not 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        237 

let  that  interfere  with  his  determination  to  see  the 
show  through.  With  his  plane  riddled,  water  squirt- 
ing over  his  feet  from  his  punctured  radiator  and  the 
motor  heating  up  as  a  result,  that  youngster  chased 
that  Hun  far  into  his  own  Hues  until  he  finally  got  him 
only  600  yards  from  the  ground,  and  brought  the 
Boche  down  in  flames.  One  could  not  ask  for  a  better 
exhibition  of  nerve  and  grit;  you  cannot  realize  how 
disconcerting  it  is  to  have  bullets  go  smashing  through 
your  plane  close  beside  you,  especially  to  a  new  man. 
I  know  that  when  I  first  started  in,  I  would  have  run 
for  home  under  the  same  circumstances  and  would 

probably  do  so  now.    When  D landed  on  the  field 

after  the  fight  he  was  naturally  a  bit  excited.  He 
came  running  over  to  me  and  said:  ''Gee,  Captain! 
When  that  Hun  broke  my  mirror  and  threw  glass  all 
over  me,  it  for  some  reason  made  me  so  damn  mad 
that  I  made  up  my  mind  I  was  going  to  get  him.'' 
And  he  sure  did.  That  boy  deserves  a  lot  of  credit 
and  I  shall  do  my  best  to  see  that  he  gets  it.* 

TouL,  Aug.  23, 1918. 
I  wish  our  mail  came  with  something  like  regularity 
and  I  guess  you  are  thinking  the  same  thing  about 
my  letters  if  the  service  home  is  as  poor  as  it  is  com- 
ing over.  I  get  letters  in  a  large  batch  about  once 
every  three  weeks  or  a  month  and  nothing  at  all  in 
between.  There  is  no  comparison  at  all  between  oiu* 
service  and  the  French,  but  still  I  guess  we  have  no 
cause  to  complain  if  we  finally  get  our  letters,  for  it 
must  be  a  terrific  job  trying  to  get  our  men  and  sup- 

*D was  awarded  the  American  Distinguished  Service  Cross 

for  the  above  exploit. 


238  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

plies  over.  The  news  one  gets  in  the  papers  these 
days  is  certainly  good,  and  it  really  begins  to  look  as 
though  the  Hun  is  pretty  nearly  finished  as  an  offen- 
sive power.  Is  it  not  wonderful  the  way  the  entire 
aspect  of  the  war  has  changed  during  the  past  couple 
of  months?  As  I  have  so  often  said  before,  it  is  still 
a  long  way  to  the  end,  but  it  is  a  great  thing  to  have 
it  in  sight. 

There  is  nothing  much  new  to  tell  you  about  this 
week  aside  from  my  experience  with  my  fifth  Hun, 
about  the  most  interesting  from  my  point  of  view 
that  I  have  yet  had.  The  squadron  is  going  along 
about  as  usual  and  things  seem  to  be  turning  out 
fairly  well.  I  have  some  very  good  men  whom  I 
think  will  develop  into  first-class  Boche  getters.  One 
of  my  men  has  had  to  quit  due  to  heart  trouble,  as  he 
fainted  one  day  while  playing  baseball  and  I  found 
out  that  he  had  fainted  once  before  in  the  air  but  had 

said  nothing  about  it.     I  got  Col.  N ,  (an  expert) 

to  examine  him  and  he  said  he  should  never  fly  on 
the  front,  so  I  am  sending  him  off  with  a  recommenda- 
tion that  he  be  used  as  an  instructor  on  the  ground. 
To  allow  him  to  fly  would  not  be  fair,  in  my  opinion, 
either  to  the  man  himself  or  to  the  men  who  fly  with 
him  and  must  rely  upon  him.  The  man  has  had  the 
same  trouble  for  years  and  that  he  was  ever  passed 
for  the  Air  Service  is  remarkable. 

I  will  tell  you  something  about  that  Rumpler  two- 
seater  I  brought  down  last  Friday  morning,  for  it  was 
>/'  in  many  ways  very  amusing.  For  about  four  days 
previous  there  had  been  a  Hun  coming  over  the  camp 
high  up  every  morning  between  5.15  and  6  o'clock, 
evidently  taking  pictures  and  looking  around  to  see 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        239 

what  was  going  on  behind  our  lines.  He  always  got 
away  safely  as  there  was  no  one  up  there  at  that  time 
and  before  any  one  could  leave  the  ground  and  climb 
up  to  him  he  would  be  home  again.  The  "Archies''  used 
to  wake  us  up  shooting  at  him.  I  thought  I  would  go 
up  early  and  lay  for  him,  and  accordingly  got  myself 
out  of  bed  at  3.30  on  Friday  morning  and  took  off  at 
crack  of  dawn  about  4.45.  For  this  sort  of  work  I 
prefer  to  be  alone,  for  one  then  has  so  much  better 
chance  of  effecting  a  surprise  attack  and  there  is  no 
chance  of  being  caught  unawares  oneself  by  a  bunch 
of  Hun  single-seaters.  Climbed  up  to  5,600  metres 
and  waited  for  Mr.  Boche,  remaining  far  within  our 
lines  so  as  to  let  him  come  in  without  scaring  him  off. 
I  hung  around  for  about  an  hour  without  seeing  a 
thing  and  was  beginning  to  cuss  my  luck  for  having 
picked  the  one  morning  when  the  Boche  would  not 
come  over,  when  I  saw  far  in  the  distance  toward  the 
lines  the  white  puffs  from  our  "Archie"  shells.  Then  I 
made  out  the  Hun  among  them,  a  tiny  black  speck  on 
the  horizon. 

As  soon  as  I  saw  him  I  turned  around  and  flew  off  in 
the  other  direction,  so  as  to  get  out  of  his  way  and  let 
him  come  in,  and  also  so  as  to  put  myself  in  the  sun 
where  he  could  not  see  me.  I  waited  five  or  ten  min- 
utes while  he  kept  sailing  along  into  our  lines,  all  the 
while  gradually  approaching  him  so  that  the  sun  was 
in  his  eyes.  Finally  he  began  to  turn  as  though  he 
thought  he  had  gone  far  enough  so  I  went  after  him, 
but  his  position  was  such  that  I  could  not  keep  my 
place  in  the  sun  while  attacking  him  and  he  saw  me 
before  I  got  ver>'  close.  He  was  only  about  4,500 
metres  up,  so  by  diving  I  overhauled  him  very  quickly 


240  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

and  went  down  under  his  tail  with  all  the  speed  I 
could  muster.  The  pilot  manoeuvred  very  well  and  I 
had  a  hard  time  to  keep  myself  covered,  but  managed 
to  get  in  close  and  gave  him  a  burst  until  I  had  to  turn 
away  to  keep  from  running  into  him.  The  pilot  told 
me  afterward  that  he  heard  the  observer  yell  when  I 
shot  so  I  suppose  I  must  have  hit  him.  The  machine 
appeared  hard  hit  and  for  a  minute  I  thought  he  was 
going  down,  so  laid  off  and  waited  to  see  what  would 
happen,  as  we  were  so  far  within  our  lines  that  I  had 
ample  time  for  another  attack  if  necessary.  We  flew 
along  for  a  minute  or  two,  the  observer  firing  a  few 
scattered  shots  at  long  range,  and  then  the  pilot  started 
for  his  own  lines  again.  I  went  after  him  once  more 
and  coming  up  under  his  tail  gave  him  a  good  burst 
at  short  range;  when  I  stopped  shooting  I  suppose 
we  were  ten  or  fifteen  yards  apart.  This  time  I  did 
better,  for  I  got  the  observer  in  the  stomach,  shot  the 
band  of  cartridges  on  his  gun  so  it  would  not  work, 
shot  the  synchronizing  gear  on  the  pilot^s  gun  so  that 
it  was  out  of  commission,  and  another  bullet  stopped 
the  motor.  I  pulled  away  when  I  got  too  close  and 
watched  again  to  see  what  would  happen,  but  even 
then  the  pilot  tried  to  plane  back  to  his  own  lines. 
The  observer  had  stopped  shooting  and  I  noticed  his 
gun  sticking  straight  up  in  the  air,  so  thought  he  must 
be  knocked  out.  There  was  lots  of  time  and  I  climbed 
up  over  the  Hun  where  I  could  look  down  in  the  ob- 
server's cockpit.  There  seemed  to  be  no  one  there  so 
I  went  down  and  gave  him  another  dose,  this  time  get- 
ting the  pilot  in  the  shoulder.  By  this  time  we  were 
down  to  2,000  metres  and  the  pilot  seeing  that  he  could 
not  possibly  get  back  to  his  own  lines,  gave  up  and 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        241 

planed  back  into  ours.  I  sat  on  his  tail  a  couple  of 
hundred  yards  away  and  watched  him,  for  although  it 
would  have  been  an  easy  matter  to  have  gone  in  and 
shot  down  the  now  defenseless  Hun,  it  did  not  seem 
worth  while  when  it  was  quite  evident  that  he  could 
not  possibly  escape.  I  thought  at  the  time  that  it 
would  be  much  nicer  to  get  the  machine  intact  if  pos- 
sible rather  than  simply  a  wreck. 

We  were  right  beside  a  river*  which  ran  down  a 
little  valley  with  quite  high  hills  on  either  side.  By 
the  river  was  a  broad  green  field,  smooth  as  a  prepared 
golf  course,  and  the  Boche  made  for  this.  He  just 
missed  some  telegraph  wires  and  then  made  an  abso- 
lutely perfect  landing  without  so  much  as  a  bounce. 
I  was  afraid  he  would  try  to  set  his  machine  on  fire  or 
run  away,  so  kept  circHng  over  his  head,  prepared  to 
give  it  to  him  if  he  tried  any  tricks.  For  several  min- 
utes no  one  got  out  of  the  machine,  and  I  thought 
both  men  must  be  knocked  out,  but  pretty  soon  the 
pilot  jumped  down  and  I  saw  him  standing  by  the  tail 
of  his  machine.  It  seemed  perfect  ages  before  any 
one  came,  and  I  fired  my  guns  once  or  twice  to  attract 
attention.  Finally  I  saw  some  French  soldiers  run- 
ning to  the  plane,  and  then  a  crowd  quickly  began  to 
gather  around  it.  I  went  down  and  landed  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  away  and  then  turned  and  rolled  back  on 
the  ground.  Just  before  I  got  to  the  Boche  plane  there 
was  a  stone  sticking  up  out  of  the  ground  about  eight 
inches,  grown  over  with  grass,  which  I  failed  to  notice, 
and  I  think  it  was  almost  the  only  stone  in  the  whole 
field.  Anyhow  I  hit  it  and  caved  in  one  of  my  wheels, 
which  allowed  a  wing  to  touch  the  ground  and  snapped 

*  The  MoseUe. 


242  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

off  several  ribs.  This  was  a  bit  disgusting,  but  I 
wanted  to  see  that  Boche,  so  stopped  my  motor  and 
hopped  out. 

A  great  crowd  of  soldiers  and  civilians  came  dashing 
across  the  field  and  in  the  centre,  between  a  couple  of 
gendarmes,  was  the  Boche  pilot.  He  was  a  little  short 
stocky  fellow  and  had  his  coat  off,  with  some  blood 
soaking  through  his  shirt.  Surrounded  as  he  was  by 
a  crowd  of  Frenchmen  who  looked  none  too  friendly, 
but  rather  as  though  they  would  like  to  string  him  up, 
and  rather  pale  from  the  scare  he  had  just  had,  he  was 
looking  pretty  miserable  and  downhearted.  I  could 
not  help  feeling  sorry  for  him,  so  smiled  and  held  out 
my  hand.  He  just  beamed  all  over  and  shook  hands 
with  a  will.  Tried  both  French  and  English  on  him, 
but  it  was  no  go,  as  he  could  not  understand  any  bet- 
ter than  I  could  his  German.  ''Nicht  gobble-gobble^' 
said  he,  or  something  that  sounded  like  it,  but  the 
*'nicht"  was  the  only  word  I  could  make  out.  Then 
the  gendarmes  took  him  off  to  get  his  wound  dressed 
and  lock  him  up.  The  wound  was  a  mere  scratch  and 
did  not  penetrate  more  than  half  an  inch. 

By  this  time  people  had  begun  to  come  from  every- 
where and  the  place  looked  like  the  exit  from  a  foot- 
ball game,  the  crowd  was  so  large.  I  walked  over  to 
the  German  machine  and  they  had  just  taken  the  ob- 
server out  of  his  cockpit  and  laid  him  on  the  ground. 
Some  of  the  Frenchmen  told  me  he  was  dying,  and  he 
breathed  his  last  just  as  I  walked  up.  He  was  a  fine 
big  strapping  fellow,  twenty-one  years  old,  and  looked 
like  a  gentleman.  It  gave  me  a  queer  feeling  to  stand 
there  and  look  at  that  dead  boy  whom  I  had  never  seen 
before,  stretched  out  with  two  or  three  of  my  bullets 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        243 

through  his  stomach,  his  fast-glazing  eyes  staring  wide 
open  and  that  nasty  yellow  look  just  coming  over  his 
face.  It  is  nice  to  get  them  down  on  our  side  of  the 
lines  where  one  can  get  the  machine,  but  on  the  other 
hand,  even  though  you  know  perfectly  well  that  you 
have  killed  a  man,  it  seems  less  personal  if  you  do  not 
see  him.  They  are  Huns  and  I  will  without  hesitation 
kill  as  many  as  I  can,  for  it  has  to  be  done,  but,  just 
the  same,  they  are  human  beings,  and  one  cannot  help 
remembering  that  they  have  a  mother  somewhere  who 
will  be  wondering  what  has  happened  to  them.  I 
have  got  a  little  parachute  to  which  I  am  attaching  a 
note  giving  the  names  of  the  men  and  a  short  state- 
ment of  what  happened  to  them,  and  this  I  shall  drop 
over  the  German  lines  the  first  clear  day.  Lieut. 
Putnam  brought  down  another  two-seater  in  our  lines 
a  couple  of  days  ago,  and  we  are  going  to  combine  on 
the  note.  His  machine  came  down  in  flames,  however, 
so  that  there  was  almost  nothing  left  but  the  motor, 
but  by  giving  them  the  motor  number  they  will,  of 
course,  know  who  the  men  were.  The  Hun  aviation 
in  this  sector  is  very  good  about  doing  the  same  thing 
and  sending  us  information  about  any  of  our  men  who 
are  lost,  so  the  least  we  can  do  is  to  reciprocate. 

As  I  was  standing  there  a  gendarme  went  through 
the  dead  observer's  pockets  but  did  not  find  much 
except  a  pair  of  eye-glasses  and  a  half-empty  flask  of 
whiskey.  The  former  he  gave  to  me  and  I  have  them. 
Inside  the  case  was  the  man's  name,  '^Lt.  Groschel." 
The  pilot's  name  was  Johann  Eichner  and  I  enclose 
his  card.  Please  keep  it  as  a  souvenir.  The  long 
word  under  his  name  is  not  an  address  but  is  the  Ger- 
man for  ''Air  pilot." 


244  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

The  Hun  machine  was  absolutely  intact  except  for 
about  thirty  bullet  holes  in  various  parts  of  its  anatomy, 
which  did  not  at  all  spoil  its  appearance,  but  made  it 
unfit  for  flying.  He  had  quite  a  few  holes  in  his  wings, 
a  sign  of  inaccurate  shooting,  but  once  when  I  was 
very  close  to  him  he  turned  and  dove  quickly  and  I 
got  into  the  back  wash  from  his  propeller.  This  threw 
my  machine  about,  and  as  I  had  both  guns  going  at 
the  time  I  sprayed  bullets  all  over  the  sky.  The  pic- 
tures which  I  am  enclosing  will  give  you  a  much  better 
idea  of  a  Boche  two-seater  than  anything  I  could  write. 

TouL,  Sept.  1,  1918. 

I  am  writing  twice  in  succession  to  you,  as  this  let- 
ter is  more  or  less  of  a  continuation  of  my  last,  so 
please  explain  to  Mother  and  tell  her  not  to  get  jealous. 

To  take  up  the  thread  of  my  letter  of  last  week 
about  where  I  left  off,  after  looking  the  Boche  plane 
over  and  getting  the  gendarmes  to  put  a  guard  on  both 
it  and  my  own  so  that  the  crowd  would  not  tear  them 
to  pieces  for  souvenirs,  I  walked  up  to  a  nearby  vil- 
lage* to  telephone  to  the  squadron.  Finally  got  them 
and  told  them  to  send  over  some  mechanics  with  a 
truck  and  trailer,  so  as  to  repair  my  machine  and  also 
take  the  Boche  machine  apart  and  cart  it  back  to 
camp.  After  telephoning  I  went  with  a  friendly  gen- 
darme to  the  house  of  one  of  his  friends,  and  they  pro- 
vided me  with  some  very  welcome  coffee  and  cheese 
and  crackers,  for  I  was  beginning  to  feel  a  bit  empty 
after  my  early  start.  While  I  was  getting  this  break- 
fast, a  very  pretty  little  daughter  of  the  house,  aged 
about  six,  came  shyly  in,  holding  to  her  mother's 
*  Bouxieres-aux-Dames,  about  five  miles  north  of  Nancy. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.       245 

skirts,  and  presented  me  with  a  beautiful  little  bouquet 
of  fresh  roses  which  she  had  just  picked  for  me.  The 
roses  were  set  off  by  sprigs  of  some  other  sort  of  a 
flower  with  which  I  am  not  familiar.  I  enclose  a  bit 
of  it  for  Mother's  benefit.  So  you  see  I  still  get  along 
all  right  with  the  children,  and  also  with  the  old  folks, 
as  will  appear  later  on  in  this  story. 

After  breakfasting  I  walked  back  with  my  gendarme 
friend  to  the  field  where  the  planes  were,  and  you 
never  saw  such  a  crowd  in  your  life.  Pretty  soon  the 
major  who  commands  the  group  arrived  and  then  a 
number  of  pilots  from  the  squadron,  together  with 
mechanics.  Then  a  French  general  put  in  an  appear- 
ance and  made  me  stand  up  in  front  of  the  Boche 
plane  with  my  flowers  in  my  hand  while  he  took  my 
picture.  I  felt  awfully  foolish  during  this  procedure 
with  about  three. thousand  people  looking  on,  but  you 
will  see  from  the  enclosed  photo  what  a  sweet  and 
girHsh  smile  I  managed  to  assume.  Don't  you  think 
it  goes  well  with  the  flowers?  I  was  going  to  put  the 
flowers  out  of  sight  somewhere,  but  suddenly  remem- 
bered that  the  little  girl  had  come  down  to  the  field 
with  her  mother  and  was  standing  there  in  the  crowd 
looking  at  me,  so  I  was  afraid  it  might  hurt  her  feel- 
ings if  I  did  not  keep  the  flowers.  I  therefore  stood 
there  with  my  posies  like  some  June  bride,  looking  as 
self-conscious  as  I  felt. 

It  was  fortunate  that  the  general  was  there,  how- 
ever, for  the  gendarmes  had  orders  not  to  allow  any 
picture-taking,  but  the  general  changed  all  that  and 
one  of  my  sergeants  got  a  lot  of  good  ones. 

After  my  mechanics  had  put  a  new  wheel  on  my 
machine  and  repaired  the  broken  wing-tip,  I  flew  back 


y 


246  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

to  our  field,  leaving  them  to  take  the  Rumpler  to  pieces 
and  load  it  on  the  trailer.  This  they  did,  and  the 
whole  kaboodle  reached  camp  that  afternoon.  I  think 
the  crew  of  my  plane  had  the  time  of  their  lives  that 
day.  On  the  way  back  to  camp  they  had  to  pass 
through  a  very  large  town*  and  the  sergeant  in  charge 
of  my  crew  sat  up  in  the  cockpit  of  the  German  ma- 
chine and  rode  through  the  streets  as  though  he  were 
Napoleon  himseK.  Then  after  we  had  removed  some 
things  from  the  plane  here  at  camp,  the  colonel  in 
command  of  the  ^^Wing"  ordered  it  set  up  on  exhibi- 
tion in  the  public  square  of  a  nearby  town.f  My  crew 
again  did  the  work  and  seemed  to  enjoy  it  immensely. 
We  got  all  kinds  of  souvenirs  from  that  Boche,  and 
one  of  the  enclosed  pictures  shows  my  photographer- 
sergeant  sitting  among  some  of  them.  The  camera 
was  a  beauty  with  large  Zeiss  lenses  of  the  finest  grade. 

I  wanted  very  much  to  keep  it  for  Uncle  J -,  as  he 

could  have  gotten  splendid  pictures  with  it.  These 
lenses  are  too  expensive  for  most  private  individuals 
to  buy.  It  so  happens,  however,  that  such  lenses  are 
needed  in  our  own  service,  for  the  Germans  can  make 
better  ones  than  any  of  the  Allies.  I  therefore  had  to 
turn  the  camera  over  to  our  technical  department, 
but  hope  some  day  to  get  it  back.  At  the  extreme  left 
of  the  same  picture  is  the  Hun  observer's  map,  the 
dark  line  on  it  being  some  of  his  gore.  The  map  I 
turned  over  to  the  intelligence  department,  but  expect 
to  get  it  back  before  long.  All  the  other  things  in  the 
pictm'e  I  am  keeping  in  addition  to  a  couple  of  splen- 
did undamaged  machine  guns  and  a  lot  of  Boche  am- 
munition.   A  few  days  ago  the  enlisted  men  of  the 

*  Nancy.  ^  Toul. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        247 

squadron  presented  me  with  a  very  handsome  cane 
made  from  the  laminated  wood  of  the  German  pro- 
peller, and  beautifully  inlaid  with  pieces  of  the  brass 
gasoHne  tank.  Of  all  the  souvenirs,  however,  I  think 
the  pictiu-es  are  probably  the  best. 

The  next  day  Major  D and  I,  together  with  a 

pilot  from  one  of  the  squadrons  who  spoke  German, 
went  to  the  headquarters  of  the  French  Army  in  this 
sector  to  see  the  German  pilot.  He  seemed  all  right 
and  had  his  coat  on  over  his  wounded  arm,  so  that 
you  would  never  have  known  he  had  been  touched. 
Through  an  interpreter  we  had  a  long  talk  with  him; 
he  was  very  communicative  and  told  us  many  things 
that  we  wanted  to  know.  He  seemed  thankful  to  have 
escaped  with  his  Hfe  and  was  anxious  to  answer  my 
questions,  for  I  think  he  realized  that  after  I  had 
knocked  out  his  observer  I  could  have  killed  him  if  I 
had  wanted  to. 

He  even  went  so  far  as  to  tell  us  the  unit  to  which 
he  belonged,  the  number  of  machines  in  his  squadron, 
and  to  show  us  on  the  map  the  location  of  his  aero- 
drome. He  may,  of  course,  have  been  lying  about 
these,  particularly  the  latter,  for  no  man  with  any 
sand  at  all  would  give  away  the  position  of  his  field. 
In  all  the  other  answers  he  gave,  however,  I  think  he 
was  sincere,  for  his  responses  were  much  too  promptly 
and  freely  given  to  have  been  false,  and  he  did  not 
speak  at  all  like  a  man  who  was  lying.  He  was  not  an 
ofl&cer,  but  he  was  by  no  means  stupid,  quite  the  con- 
trary, but  even  so  I  don't  think  he  was  clever  enough 
to  make  up  all  the  things  he  told  us.  One  thing  he 
wanted  to  know  was  whether  pilots  captured  by  the 
Allies  were  as  well  treated  as  our  pilots  who  landed  in 


248  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Germany.  He  said  that  the  officer  pilots  captured 
were  sent  to  a  camp  near  to  and  very  like  the  camp 
to  which  they  send  their  own  pilots  when  they  are  in 
need  of  a  rest.  They  are  comfortably  housed,  have 
good  meals  with  meat  twice  a  day  and  are  allowed  to 
go  and  come  as  they  please  so  long  as  they  give  their 
word  not  to  attempt  to  escape  and  report  back  at 
night.  This  again,  of  course,  may  have  been  an  exag- 
geration* in  order  to  try  to  get  good  treatment  for 
himself,  but  even  if  it  was  true,  I  guess  the  joker  in 
the  pack  was  the  proviso  about  not  attempting  to 
escape,  for  few  men  would  care  to  give  their  word  on 
this  for  more  than  a  very  limited  period.  The  Boche 
also  told  us  that  th^  German  pilots  were  very  well  fed 
but  that  the  men  in  the  trenches  had  a  miserable  time 
of  it  in  this  respect.  We  did  not  get  around  to  asking 
him  about  the  civilian  population.  With  regard  to 
our  combat  he  said  it  would  have  been  a  different  story 
had  he  had  his  old  observer  with  him,  that  it  was 
Lt.  Groschel's  first  trip  across  the  lines  and  he  had 
not  shot  at  me  very  much.  It  was  small  comfort  to 
him,  I  think,  when  we  told  him  that  his  observer's  gun 
had  been  put  out  of  commission  at  the  beginning  of 
the  fight  and  that,  therefore,  he  could  hardly  be  blamed 
for  not  shooting  more  than  he  did. 

One  interesting  thing  we  found  in  the  Hun  plane 
was  a  small,  innocent-looking  iron  box  about  the  size 
and  shape  of  an  ordinary  brick.  It  was  screwed  to  the 
floor  of  the  observer's  cockpit.  Printed  on  the  top  of 
the  box  in  German  were  the  words  '^Beware.  Danger 
of  death."     One  of  the  words  was  '^Vorsicht,''  which 

*  From  reports  of  prisoners  since  received,  it  was  certainly  a  false 
statement. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        249 

I  remembered  as  having  been  painted  on  the  cases  of 
caps  which  exploded  in  that  Admiralty  case  we  had 
in  the  office.  At  first  we  never  noticed  the  thing,  it 
was  so  small  and  inconspicuous,  until  a  French  major 
pointed  it  out.  We  then  cautiously  removed  it  and 
brought  it  back  to  camp.  I  gave  orders  that  it  be  put 
away  carefully  in  a  safe  place,  for  it  should  have  been 
turned  over  to  the  Ordnance  Department.  Unfortu- 
nately the  man  to  whom  I  gave  the  orders  misunder- 
stood me  and  thought  I  said  I  wanted  it  done  away 
with.  '\  In  my  absence,  therefore,  they  took  it  out  in  a 
field  and  tied  it  to  a  tree,  fastened  a  rope  to  the  small 
handle  on  top  of  the  box  after  unfastening  the  safety 
wire  which  held  this  down,  then  pulled  the  handle  out 
and  ran.  Just  five  minutes  later  that  little  infernal 
machine  went  off  with  a  report  like  an  ordinary  aerial 
bomb.  It  blew  a  hole  in  the  ground  a  foot  deep  by 
three  feet  across  and  cut  down  the  tree  to  which  it 
was  tied  and  another  small  one  beside  it.  The  trees 
were  eight  and  four  inches  in  diameter  respectively 
and  of  solid  live  wood.  The  Boche  pilot  told  us  that 
all  German  machines  except  the  single-seaters  now 
carry  these  bombs  so  as  to  destroy  the  plane  in  case  of 
a  forced  landing  in  enemy  territory.  He  had  not 
pulled  the  handle  because  he  was  not  sure  that  his 
observer  was  dead  and  he  could  not  get  him  out  of 
the  machine  by  himself.  I  had  heard  of  these  things 
before  but  had  never  seen  one.  I  remember  hearing 
of  one  case  w^here  a  Hun  plane  was  forced  to  land  in 
Belgium.  The  pilot  and  observer  got  out  and  walked 
off  to  one  side  surrounded  by  soldiers,  but  never  said 
anything  about  having  released  the  fuse  of  the  bomb. 
A  lot  of  Belgian  soldiers  gathered  about  the  machine 


250  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

and  the  bomb  went  off,  killing  a  large  number  of  them. 
Whereupon  the  other  soldiers  promptly  slaughtered 
the  two  Huns. 

The  Boche  pilot  went  on  to  say  that  he  did  not  like 
American  pilots,  for  he  had  been  shot  down  in  flames 
by  two  of  them  about  the  middle  of  last  May.  Luckily 
for  him  he  was  able  to  land  his  machine  and  jump  out 
before  she  burned  up.  Two  weeks  before,  about  the 
first  of  May,  he  got  some  bullets  in  his  motor  which 
put  it  out  of  business,  but  as  he  had  lots  of  height  he 
was  able  to  glide  well  into  his  own  Unes  and  land 
safely.  His  last  encounter  when  I  brought  him  down 
on  Aug.  16th  was,  therefore,  his  third  experience  at 
being  brought  down.  He  said  he  had  been  flying 
for  five  years  and  I  beheve  him,  for  he  certainly  han- 
dled his  machine  well  and  had  his  observer  not  been 
knocked  out  at  the  beginning,  he  would  have  given 
him  some  good  shots  at  me.  Eichner  said  he  had 
almost  finished  his  term  of  service  at  the  front,  and  in 
three  weeks  would  have  been  sent  to  the  rear  as  an 
instructor.  Pretty  rum  luck  to  get  knocked  down 
just  at  the  end  like  that. 

This  Boche  was  so  communicative  that  we  wished 
very  much  that  we  could  have  had  more  time  to  talk 
to  him.  The  circumstances  under  which  we  ques- 
tioned him  were  very  unfavorable  for  getting  the 
most  out  of  him.  He  was  in  a  small  room  with  four 
American  and  three  French  officers,  being  continually 
plied  with  questions  by  them.  If  we  could  have  taken 
him  somewhere,  given  him  a  good  dinner  and  a  few 
drinks,  and  then  gotten  to  swapping  yarns  in  a  friendly 
way  about  the  war  instead  of  firing  a  lot  of  direct 
questions  at  him,  I  think  he  would  have  told  us  every- 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        251 

thing  he  knew  about  Germany.  He  seemed  more 
worried  about  not  having  anything  to  shave  or  brush 
his  hair  with  than  anything  else.  Also  he  had,  the 
night  before  he  was  brought  down,  given  his  observer 
a  hundred  marks  to  buy  him  a  flask  of  whiskey,  which 
had  only  cost  four  marks.  He  wanted  to  know  if  the 
change  had  been  found  on  the  observer's  body,  for  he 
did  not  have  much  cash  with  him  to  see  him  through 
till  the  end  of  the  war.  I  felt  Hke  giving  him  some, 
but  thought  the  guard  would  probably  take  it  from 
him,  and  then  also  a  Hun  is  not  entitled  to  many 
favors,  so  I  gave  him  a  package  of  cigarettes  and  called 
it  square  at  that.  He  seemed  pleased,  said  he  thought 
the  captain  (being  me)  seemed  like  a  pretty  nice  sort 
of  a  fellow,  and  wanted  to  know  my  name,  so  we  ex- 
changed cards  and  I  have  already  sent  you  his.  The 
one  I  gave  him  had  ''Andalusia,  Pa.,''  on  it  so  if  he 
calls  on  you  after  the  war  do  not  be  siuprised.  Un- 
fortunately the  pilot  who  acted  as  interpreter  and  who 
could  read  German  script  was  drowned  a  few  days  ago 
while  bathing  in  a  creek  near  by.  I  enclose  you  the 
leaves  from  the  note-book  which  you  sent  me  for 
Xmas,  on  which  Eichner  wrote  his  name  and  address 
as  well  as  that  of  his  observer.  The  rest  of  it  says 
that  he  was  brought  down  in  combat  but  only  slightly 
wounded,  while  the  observer  was  killed.  He  wrote  this 
with  the  idea  that  I  would  drop  his  note  over  the 
hues,  but  I  shall  drop  a  copy. 

Had  a  hot  scrap  with  another  Rumpler  the  other 
day  and  we  only  lost  him  by  the  hardest  kind  of  luck. 
The  flight  was  the  most  disappointing  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  extraordinary  encounter  I  have  ever 
been  mixed  up  in.    Have  no  time  to  write  you  about 


252  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

it  now  but  will  save  it  for  my  next.  The  gist  of  it 
was  that  I  drove  a  Rumpler  two-seater  from  5,500  to 
50  metres,  four  miles  inside  our  lines,  shot  Ihe  ob- 
server's gun  away  from  him,  and  then  when  I  had  him 
lashed  to  the  mast  had  to  let  him  get  away  because 
the  belt  in  one  gun  broke  and  I  had  fired  all  the  car- 
tridges out  of  the  other  in  driving  him  down.  For  ten 
mmutes  I  manoeuvred  around  him  without  being  able 
to  fire  a  shot,  but  trying  to  run  him  into  a  tree  or  a 
house  or  hoping  that  some  one  on  the  ground  would 
come  along  and  bring  him  down  with  a  brick. 

P.  S. — Forgot  to  tell  you  what  I  referred  to  above 
when  I  said  I  still  got  along  with  the  old  folks  as  well 
as  the  children.  When  I  went  back  to  the  field  where 
the  German  plane  was,  an  effusive  middle-aged  French 
lady  grabbed  my  hand  and  insisted  oji  kissing  it,  before 
the  whole  crowd,  much  to  my  confusion.  These  poor 
people  do  not  know  the  difference  between  a  photo- 
graphic and  reconnaissance  plane  such  as  the  Rumpler 
and  the  night  bombing  machines.  The  region  where 
my  Hun  came  down  had  been  very  heavily  bombed, 
so  the  civiHans  look  upon  any  one  who  brings  down  a 
Hun  as  their  deliverer  from  torment.  I  tell  you  all 
this  to  show  you  that  I  am  still  quite  a  man  with  the 
ladies,  provided  they  are  under  the  age  of  twelve  or 
more  than  about  forty-five.  In  between  these  ages  I 
seem  to  be  about  as  hopeless  as  ever. 

TouL,  September  20th,  1918. 

Many  happy  returns  of  the  day,  even  though  it 

will  be  a  month  late  when  you  get  it.     It  really  begins 

to  look  as  though  we  shall  be  able  to  celebrate  your 

next  birthday  together,  for  I  think  the  old  Boche  is 


.1 

>^ 

r 

B^ 

^^W^^^ 

"T 

iW^ 

^^^^^. 

1 

'  / 

^H 

ll 

i3 

JH 

H 

[F^^iiB^^B^^^Bglp^ -■ ,"-  '^""M^^B 

1 

Observer's  cockpit  and  machine-gun  of  machine  shown 
facing  page  242. 

Note  how  the  cartridge-belt  has  been  broken  by  a  bullet,  thus  putting 
the  gun  out  of  action. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        253 

! 

beginning  to  get  a  bit  worried  by  the  constant  ham- 
mering the  Allies  are  now  giving  him  from  one  end  of 
the  front  to  the  other.  This  is  only  a  line  to  let  you 
know  that  I  am  well  and  flourishing,  for  I  have  been 
and  still  am  so  busy  that  extensive  letter-writing  is 
well-nigh  impossible.  We  have  had  a  big  week  and 
the  squadron  has  done  some  good  work,  although  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  we  have  also  had  a  hard  knock  and 
lost  too  many  men.  In  three  days — September  13th- 
15th — ^we  shot  down  officially  eight  German  machines, 
all  single-seater  fighting  planes.  In  the  same  time, 
however,  we  ourselves  lost  six  men,  two  of  them  being 
among  my  best  pilots  and  one  particularly  as  valuable 
a  pilot  and  as  fine  a  man  as  there  was  in  the  squadron. 
It  makes  me  sick  at  heart  to  see  these  boys  go,  espe- 
cially when  I  know  that  all  but  perhaps  one  or  two  of 
our  losses  were  entirely  unnecessary  and  should  never 
have  occurred.  In  the  American  aviation  it  is  the 
same  as  in  the  infantry,  the  great  trouble  is  that  the 
new  men  will  get  carried  away  with  themselves  in  a 
combat  and  go  too  strong.  I  have  talked  and  preached 
and  harped  on  the  importance  of  care  ever  since  the 
formation  of  the  squadron,  but  it  seems  that  the  only 
thing  which  makes  most  men  remember  is  bitter  ex- 
perience. When  a  man  has  seen  his  friends  shot  down 
around  him  or  has  been  nearly  killed  himself  a  few 
times,  he  begins  to  realize  what  he  may  get  himself  in 
for  and  thinks  twice  before  he  takes  wild  chances  which 
do  not  pay.  These  fellows  we  lost  had  plenty  of 
nerve,  but  as  I  said  before  some  of  them  went  too 
strong  and  others  evidently  got  separated  from  the 
formation  in  the  course  of  a  combat,  and  then  instead 
of  returning  to  our  lines  at  once,  fooled  around  by 


254  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

themselves  in  the  German  lines  trying  to  pick  up  the 
rest  of  the  patrol.  There  were  plenty  of  Huns  about 
and  I  suppose  my  men  must  have  fallen  in  with  supe- 
rior numbers  and  been  overwhelmed.  Of  the  six  I  my- 
self saw  one  shot  down  in  the  course  of  a  fight  in  which 
we  brought  down  two  Huns  and  in  the  same  fight  I 
saw  another  of  my  men  following  a  Boche  far  into  his 
own  lines  at  only  about  100  metres  altitude.  I  was 
afraid  he  would  get  himself  into  trouble  and  tried  to 
watch  him,  at  the  same  time  endeavoring  to  get  the 
patrol  together,  for  we  had  become  very  much  scat- 
tered during  the  fight.  It  happened,  however,  that  I 
was  flying  an  extra  plane  without  any  distinguishing 
marks  on  it,  while  my  own  machine  was  being  repaired. 
It  was,  therefore,  difficult  for  the  other  men  to  recog- 
nize me,  and  being  unable  to  collect  them  I  went  in 
by  myself  to  watch  the  man  who  was  still  chasing  a 
Hxm  just  above  the  tree  tops.  He  followed  him  fifteen 
kilometres  into  the  German  lines  and  then  I  saw  him 
attacked  by  two  Fokkers  and  manoeuvring  very  well 
to  protect  himself.  I  dove  to  help  him  and  would 
have  been  in  plenty  of  time  had  my  motor  not  stopped, 
owing  to  some  dirt  in  the  gas  line.  This  forced  me  to 
pull  up  for  several  seconds,  but  I  got  her  going  again 
and  dove  down  over  the  fight  as  fast  as  I  could  go,  but 
by  the  time  I  had  come  from  2,000  to  600  metres  alti- 
tude the  Huns  had  shot  my  man's  motor  and  forced 
him  to  land.  There  were  lots  of  Boche  about  and  as 
we  were  on  the  far  side  of  one  of  their  balloons  and 
the  machine  guns  and  "Archies"  on  the  ground  were 
making  it  pretty  hot  for  me  I  had  to  pull  out.  I  tried 
to  get  a  shot  at  the  two  Huns,  but  before  I  could  come 
up  with  them  they  flew  back  toward  their  own  aero- 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        255 

drome,  which  was  only  a  short  distance  from  where  the 
fight  took  place,  and  there  was  nothing  more  I  could  do 
then,  but  to  my  dying  day  I  shall  feel  that  I  should 
have  been  able  to  save  that  boy.  Perhaps  not,  but 
just  the  same  I  am  afraid  I  hesitated  an  instant  too 
long.  I  could  not  see  him  get  out  of  his  machine,  so 
perhaps  he  was  wounded.  I  only  hope  he  was  not 
killed.*  He  was  certainly  conscious  when  he  landed, 
for  he  brought  his  machine  down  very  well  and  al- 
though it  went  up  on  its  nose  as  though  a  wheel  had 
rolled  into  a  hole,  it  was  not  even  going  fast  enough 
to  turn  over. 

Still  another  man  was  caught  by  surprise  by  a  gang 
of  Huns  whom  the  two  other  men  who  were  with  him 
saw  and  were  able  to  get  away  from.  He  was  a  flight 
commander  and  an  excellent  pilot  and  why  he  was 
surprised  with  all  the  warning  he  had,  I  cannot  guess. 

The  other  three  men  none  of  us  saw  even  attacked, 
and  what  happened  to  them  no  one  knows;  they  just 
did  not  come  back.f 

*  This  pilot  had  a  most  remarkable  escape.  The  motor,  body,  and 
wings  of  his  plane  were  riddled  with  bullets  and  he  himseK  got  several 
through  his  clothes  but  was  unwounded.  He  was  made  prisoner  and 
returned  after  the  signing  of  the  armistice. 

t  Of  these  three  men  one  got  lost  in  the  course  of  a  fight  among  some 
clouds  and  was  forced  to  land  in  the  German  lines,  while  another  had 
his  motor  fail  him  when  he  was  attempting  to  save  the  man  to  whose 
assistance  the  author  also  tried  to  go,  as  described  above.  The  result 
was  that  he  too  was  forced  to  land  in  enemy  territory  and  was  taken 

prisoner.    The  third  pilot  mentioned  earUer  in  these  letters  as  D 

and  as  having  brought  down  a  Hun  machine  in  flames  after  his  own 
plane  had  been  riddled,  was  shot  down  with  one  bullet  through  his  leg 
and  with  his  right  arm  practically  torn  o£F  above  the  elbow  by  an  ex- 
plosive bullet.  He  fainted  in  the  air,  but  recovered  consciousness  suffi- 
ciently to  partly  right  his  machine  before  it  crashed  to'the  ground.  By 
great  good  fortune  he  was  not  killed,  and  after  spending  two  months  in 
a  German  hospital,  where  his  arm  was  amputated,  returned  after  the 
signing  of  the  armistice. 


256  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

We  have  orders  now  to  attack  Hun  observation  bal- 
loons whenever  possible  and  to  burn  them  up,  or  at 
least  force  the  Huns  to  pull  them  down.  During  a 
patrol  the  other  day  I  noticed  one  balloon  very  clearly, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  patrol  went  down  to  take  a  shot 
at  it.  My  guns  were  not  equipped  with  incendiary 
ammunition  at  the  time,  but  on  each  patrol  we  have 
some  pilot  whose  guns  are  loaded  for  balloons.  Before 
going  out  I  had  told  the  men  that  we  would  attack 
balloons  if  we  saw  any  up,  and  accordingly  dove  down 
on  this  one  to  show  the  pilot  who  was  loaded  for  bal- 
loons that  I  wanted  him  to  attack  it.  As  we  dove 
down  on  the  balloon  I  opened  fire  at  three  or  four 
hundred  yards  range,  much  farther  than  I  would  have 
if  I  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  set  it  on  fire  myself.  Hav- 
ing only  armor-piercing  and  tracer  ammunition,  how- 
ever, I  knew  that  this  was  practically  impossible,  and 
shot  more  to  point  out  the  balloon  to  my  companion 
than  for  anything  else.  The  Huns  did  not  pull  the 
balloon  down  nearly  as  fast  as  usual  when  they  saw  us 
coming,  and  several  anti-aircraft  machine  guns  opened 
up  on  us  when  we  were  still  twelve  hundred  yards 
above  them.  As  I  was  diving  I  noticed  one  in  particu- 
lar shooting  at  me,  and  the  incendiary  ammunition 
which  they  use  makes  the  gun  appear  at  long  range 
something  like  a  huge  watering-pot  spraying  its  con- 
tents up  toward  you. 

When  I  first  opened  fire  I  aimed  directly  for  the  bal- 
loon without  allowing  for  the  fall  of  my  bullets  at  long 
range,  and  noticed  the  stream  of  shots  passing  just 
under  the  edge  of  the  gas-bag  and  about  into  the 
observer's  basket.  Two  of  us  fired  perhaps  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  rounds  into  that  sausage,  but  we  only 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        257 

shot  a  lot  of  holes  in  it  and  nothing  happened,  for  the 
man  who  had  the  balloon  ammunition  did  not  see  it 
at  all.  Then  we  started  back  for  our  lines,  about 
eight  miles  away,  and  I  never  before  have  run  into 
such  hot  anti-aircraft  fire.  There  must  have  been  a 
dozen  machine  guns  firing  at  us  from  every  possible 
angle,  and  it  seemed  as  though  the  Huns  had  turned 
loose  every  ^'Archie '^  gim  in  the  sector.  We  flew  along 
for  what  seemed  an  age  in  a  perfect  cloud  of  shell- 
bursts,  ducking  and  diving  this  way  and  that  to  throw 
the  gunners  off  their  range,  but  every  way  one  turned 
it  seemed  as  though  a  shell  would  go  off  in  front  and 
others  on  each  side.  Being  only  five  or  six  hundred 
yards  from  the  ground,  the  machine  guns  could  be 
plainly  heard,  and  these,  mingled  with  the  explosions 
of  the  bursting  shells,  made  quite  a  rumpus.  It  cer- 
tainly is  remarkable,  though,  how  much  shooting  can 
be  done  without  hitting  anything,  for  none  of  our 
planes  was  so  much  as  touched  by  either  the  machine 
guns  or  the  ^'Archies.'' 

The  most  peculiar  part  of  the  whole  thing,  however, 
was  that  with  two  planes  right  on  top  of  that  balloon 
shooting  it  full  of  holes,  the  observers  did  not  jump 
out  in  their  parachutes.  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
observer  in  his  sober  senses  would  stick  to  his  basket 
under  such  circumstances,  and  at  first  thought  that 
my  shots  which  I  saw  apparently  going  into  the  basket 
must  have  hit  the  observers.  Upon  thinking  it  over, 
however,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  whole  thing 
was  a  trap.  I  have  heard  of  decoy  balloons  about 
which  are  placed  particularly  strong  anti-aircraft  de- 
fenses. In  such  cases  the  ranges  and  angles  of  fire  are 
very  carefully  worked  out  ahead  of  time,  the  idea 


258  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

being  to  decoy  enemy  planes  to  attack  the  balloon, 
and  thus  get  them  down  within  good  range  of  the  guns. 
Such  a  decoy  of  course  carries  no  observers.  If  this 
is  what  we  ran  into,  the  decoy  worked  first-rate,  but 
I  can't  say  so  much  for  the  men  behind  the  guns. 

Balloons  seem  to  be  my  hoodoo  and  it  does  not  look 
as  if  I  should  ever  get  one.  Each  chance  I  have  had 
my  guns  have  either  jammed  or  I  have  had  no  incen- 
diary ammunition.  Then  I  load  up  with  incendiaries, 
go  out  and  run  into  some  Hun  planes.  The  incendiary 
bullets  then  jam  or  make  so  much  smoke  I  can  hardly 
see  the  Hun  and  this  makes  me  mad,  so  that  I  get  rid 
of  the  incendiaries  again,  and  so  it  goes. 

Captain  DeuUin,  of  N.  73,  came  around  to  the 
squadron  and  had  dinner  with  me  the  other  evening. 
I  have  also  dined  with  him  once  or  twice  and  he  is  now 
in  command  of  Groupe  de  Chasse  19  of  the  French 
Aviation.  We  got  talking  over  the  old  days  when  we 
were  in  Flanders  a  year  ago,  and  he  told  me  a  most 
amusing  sequel  to  a  fight  which  I  remember  he  had 
there. 

He  was  out  by  himself  one  day,  flying  very  high,  a 
considerable  distance  inside  the  Boche  lines,  east  of 
Ypres.  He  ran  across  a  formation  of  half  a  dozen 
Albatross  scouts,  and  being  above  them,  tried  to  dive 
down  and  pick  one  of  them  off.  There  was  one  Hun 
in  particular  who  had  his  machine  very  gaudily  painted 
up  in  red  and  yellow  and  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow, 
whom  Deullin  tried  to  shoot.  This  Hun  would  delib- 
erately fly  up  under  him,  offering  an  apparently  good 
chance,  but  as  soon  as  Deullin  would  start  to  dive 
down  on  him  he  would  begin  side-slipping  and  doing 
renversements  down  into  the  middle  of  his  companions 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        259 

who  kept  circling  in  close  formation  just  below  him. 
This  was,  of  course,  nothing  but  the  old  Hun  trick  of 
trying  to  decoy  an  enemy  down  into  the  middle  of  a 
group  of  their  machines,  so  that  they  could  all  jump 
on  him,  but  DeuUin  is  too  old  a  hand  to  fall  for  any 
stuff  like  that.  He  tried  for  fifteen  minutes  to  get 
that  brightly  colored  Hun  but  could  never  get  a  decent 
shot  at  him  and  said  that  he  was  without  exception 
the  most  skilful  German  pilot  that  he  had  ever  run 
across.  Finally  he  had  to  give  it  up,  as  his  supply  of 
gasoline  was  getting  low,  so  he  started  back  to  his  own 
lines,  the  Huns  following  along  below  and  behind  him. 
On  the  way  he  ran  across  a  sohtary  Albatross,  took 
him  by  surprise,  and  shot  him  down  in  flames. 

Six  months  later,  when  DeuUin  was  down  on  the 
Soissons  sector,  he  heard  that  a  well  known  German 
ace  had  been  brought  down  sHghtly  wounded,  in  the 
French  lines.  As  DeuUin  speaks  German,  he  thought 
it  might  be  interesting  to  talk  to  the  Hun,  so  he  went 
over  to  see  him.  He  asked  him  how  long  he  had  been 
flying  in  the  Soissons  sector,  and  the  Hun  said  that  he 
had  only  been  there  a  little  while,  as  his  squadron  had 
always  been  stationed  in  Flanders.  DeuUin  told  him 
that  he  also  had  been  in  Flanders,  suggested  that  they 
might  have  met  up  there,  and  then  told  him  the  story 
about  his  fight.  He  mentioned  the  peculiar  way  in 
which  the  brightly  colored  Albatross  had  been  painted, 
and  the  time  and  place  at  which  the  fight  took  place. 
The  Hun  smiled  and  said:  '^Why,  yes,  that  was  I.  I 
remember  that  very  well.''  DeuUin  then  said:  "And 
did  you  see  that  Albatross  of  yoiu-s  that  I  shot  down 
in  flames,  just  after  our  fight?"  To  which  the  Hun 
repHed:  '^  Yes,  I  saw  him;  didn't  he  burn  nicely?" 


260  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

P.  S. — I  was  mixed  up  in  one  or  two  of  the  fights 
this  week  but  do  not  think  my  shooting  had  anything 
to  do  with  bringing  down  any  of  the  Huns,  so  they  do 
not  count  for  me  personally. 

Belrain,*  Sept.  29,  1918. 
Once  again  I  am  sending  you  just  a  line  after  an 
interval  of  ten  days,  to  let  you  know  that  I  am  well. 
We  have  been  going  through  a  period  of  the  toughest 
fighting  I  have  ever  experienced  since  I  have  been  on 
the  front,  but  I  think  the  old  Boches  have  been  having 
a  still  tougher  time  than  we  have.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  the  squadron  has  had  still  further  losses,  although 
we  have  managed  to  keep  our  victories  ahead  of  the 
losses.  On  the  26tht  I  lost  two  new  men  who  had 
come  out  to  replace  some  of  those  lost  in  the  first  offen- 
sive. You  cannot  guess  how  I  hate  to  put  these  new 
boys  into  the  hardest  kind  of  fighting,  while  they  are 
still  so  totally  inexperienced  that  they  do  not  know 
how  to  properly  protect  themselves.  One  knows  per- 
fectly well  when  one  sends  them  out  that  some  of  them 
are  going  to  be  killed,  whereas,  if  they  could  be  given  a 
little  preliminary  experience  in  a  quiet  sector,  they 
would  have  a  much  better  chance  and  would  individu- 
ally probably  accomplish  a  great  deal  more.  There  is 
no  time  for  this  now,  however.  The  Huns  are  on  the 
run  and  the  thing  to  do  is  to  throw  in  everything  we 
have  so  as  to  get  them  running  so  fast  they  cannot 
stop.  A  green  man  is  worth  more  now,  green  as  he 
is,  than  he  would  be  a  couple  of  months  hence  if  he 
were  saved  and  given  additional  training.  Hence 
with  each  squadron  doing  as  much  work  as  it  can  pos- 

*  About  ten  miles  north  of  Bar-le-Duc. 
t  The  first  day  of  the  Argon^e  offensive. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        261 

sibly  handle  at  full  strength  and  after  having  had  such 
heavy  losses  in  this  squadron,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  throw  the  green  men  in,  and  when  they  don^t  come 
back,  one  simply  has  to  grin  and  bear  it. 

We  sallied  forth  on  the  morning  of  the  26th  shortly 
after  dayhght  and  had  a  dozen  machines  flying  in  two 
formations  one  above  the  other.  I  was  leading  the  lower 
formation  myself  and  we  had  not  been  long  on  the  lines 
before  I  spotted  seven  biplane  Fokker  single-seater 
fighting  machines  coming  in  the  distance.  We  had 
the  altitude  on  them  so  I  passed  over  them  and  then 
dropped  on  the  rear  man.  Unfortunately  he  saw  me 
just  before  I  opened  fire  and  turned  sharply  under  me. 
I  gave  it  to  him  at  about  fifty  yards,  but  the  shot  was 
a  very  difficult  one,  and  although  my  tracer  bullets 
seemed  to  be  going  in  about  the  right  place  I  could 
not  be  sure  that  I  got  him.  There  was  no  time  to 
watch  him  after  my  first  burst.  Going  down  after  this 
one  put  me  on  the  same  level  with  the  rest  of  them, 
about  4,200  metres,  and  as  they  all  turned  back  I  saw 
that  I  was  going  to  charge  right  through  the  middle 
of  them.  Jammed  on  my  motor  full  speed  and  pulled 
up  for  all  I  was  worth,  passing  just  above  the  heads 
of  all  six.  Then  did  a  renversement  and  dropped  on 
the  tail  of  the  last  man,  who  had,  I  think,  been  the 
leader.  Perhaps  he  did  not  see  me  for  a  moment  be- 
cause I  got  behind  him  at  about  fifty  metres  and  had 
a  dead  shot  at  him.  Gave  him  a  good  burst  and  he 
turned  over  and  started  to  fall.  I  think  he  was  pretty 
sick,  for  I  saw  my  tracer  bullets  going  into  him,  but 
again  was  unable  to  watch  this  Hun  go  down  on  ac- 
count of  the  others.  I  attacked  a  third,  but  had  to 
shoot  at  too  long  range  to  be  effective. 

By  this  time  I  thought  the  fight  had  progressed  far 


262  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

enough  into  the  German  lines,  considering  that  there 
were  new  men  along  and  we  had  lost  considerable  alti- 
tude during  the  combat.  I  therefore  pulled  up  and 
endeavored  to  get  my  formation  together,  signalUng 
the  other  planes  to  fall  into  their  positions.  Collected 
a  couple  of  them  and  with  the  upper  formation  well 
together  and  above  we  started  for  our  lines.  Just  then 
I  caught  sight  of  six  or  seven  machines  far  in  the 
German  lines,  so  far  away  that  it  was  impossible  to 
tell  which  were  Fokkers  and  which  Spads.  They 
were  manoeuvring,  however,  as  though  in  combat,  and 
I  knew  that  if  any  of  my  men  were  there  they  must  be 
greatly  outnumbered  and  much  too  far  in  the  Boche 
lines.  I  turned  and  dove  full  speed  toward  the  fight 
and  soon  made  out  a  Spad  manoeuvring  wildly,  trying 
to  shake  off  two  Fokkers  which  were  on  his  tail  at 
point-blank  range.  He  was  in  a  bad  way  and  I  prayed 
that  I  should  not  this  time  be  too  late.  Just  then  to 
my  right  I  saw  a  second  Spad  making  for  our  lines, 
closely  pursued  by  two  other  Fokkers,  so  I  dove  down 
on  them  and  drove  them  off  and  then  turned  to  help 
out  the  first  Spad.  He  was  nowhere  to  be  seen,  al- 
though I  caught  a  glimpse  of  his  two  pin-suers  making 
for  home.  One  of  my  men  did  not  return  from  this 
fight,  so  I  am  afraid  that  they  must  have  gotten  him. 
Once  more  the  same  old  story  of  a  man  forgetting 
that  there  is  any  danger  other  than  that  which  may 
come  from  the  machine  which  he  is  attacking.  This 
is,  of  course,  much  the  lesser  danger.  In  this  fight  we 
had  everything  in  our  favor  and  there  was  no  reason 
why  anyone  should  have  gotten  in  trouble  if  they 
would  only  not  get  carried  away  with  themselves.  It 
is  splendid  the  way  these  boys  will  sail  in  and  fight. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        263 

but  no  amount  of  warning  seems  to  teach  them  the 
necessary  caution  if  they  are  to  live  long  at  the  game. 
Only  bitter  experience  teaches  them,  and  that  is  dearly 
paid  for.  The  man  who  was  being  pursued  by  the 
Fokkers  which  I  drove  off  was  a  major  temporarily  at- 
tached to  the  squadron  to  get  some  practical  experi- 
ence. He  got  it  all  right.  He  is  an  extremely  nice  fel- 
low and  I  am  glad  to  say  he  got  safely  back  to  our  lines. 
In  the  course  of  this  fight  we  shot  up  four  or  five  Huns, 
but  only  two  were  confirmed.* 

Later  in  the  day  on  the  26th  we  got  orders  for  a 
strafing  party  on  some  roads  well  in  the  German 
lines.  '' Strafing,"  you  will  recall,  is  aviation  slang 
for  bombing  and  shooting  up  troops,  etc.,  on  the 
roads,  from  very  low  altitudes,  two  or  three  hundred 
metres.  It  is  most  unpleasant  and  dangerous  work, 
for  one  gets  shot  up  from  the  ground,  against  which 
there  is  no  protection,  and  then  any  Huns  who  may 
come  along  in  the  air  have  you  at  a  great  disadvan- 
tage. I  could  not  go  out  on  this  show  as  several  of 
my  flight  commanders  were  laid  up  and  I  had  to  take 
out  a  high  patrol  shortly  afterward.  Seven  Fokkers 
came  down  on  the  strafing  party,  and  although  my 
men  shot  down  one  Hun,  one  of  ours  did  not  return. 
It  is  a  rotten  situation  to  put  a  green  man  in,  but  I 
fail  to  see  how  it  can  be  helped.  Am  glad  to  say, 
however,  that  I  don^t  think  we  shall  have  much  more 
of  this  work  to  do.    The  Boches  we  got  on  the  26th 

*  The  pilot  who  failed  to  return  from  this  fight  was  shot  down, 
wounded,  in  the  German  lines.  He  returned  after  the  armistice  with 
the  information  that  a  second  group  of  Fokkers  had  come  into  the 
combat  in  addition  to  the  original  seven,  and  that  instead  of  two, 
eight  Huns  were  actually  brought  down,  four  of  whom  he  himself  saw 
dead  on  the  ground. 


264  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

make  fifteen  for  the  squadron,  but  the  losses  have  been 
much  in  excess  of  what  they  should  have  been,  eight 
in  all. 

Will  have  to  stop  now  so  as  to  get  this  letter  off, 
but  there  is  not  much  other  news  to  give  you  anyhow. 
We  have  moved  since  I  last  wrote  but  have  only  gone 
a  little  way  up  the  line,  not  so  very  far  from  where  we 
were.  The  J&ght  on  the  26th  took  place  just  north  of 
the  most  famous  city  of  the  War,  so  I  shall  leave  you 
to  guess  the  exact  location.*  My  Hun  had  four  large 
red  and  white  squares  on  the  centre  section  of  his  top 
plane,  the  marking  of  a  rather  famous  German  squad- 
ron which  we  call  the  checkerboards,  for  the  squares 
look  like  part  of  a  checkerboard. f  I  glanced  over  the 
side  of  my  machine  at  the  Hun  as  he  spun  down  below 
me  only  twenty  or  thirty  yards  away  and  could  plainly 
see  his  markings. 

Beleain,  Oct.  8,  1918. 
Since  we  moved  from  our  old  station  {  our  mail  has 
been  very  much  delayed,  so  that  for  several  weeks  we 
received  none  at  all,  but  a  few  days  ago  came  a  very 
welcome  letter  from  you  and  Mother.  I  was  mighty 
glad  to  hear  that  everything  is  going  along  smoothly 
at  home  and  that  you  are  all  well.  Things  are  moving 
along  about  the  same  here,  plenty  of  work  and  no  little 
excitement,  but  the  weather  has  been  almost  continu- 
ously bad  and  has  made  the  flying  hard  and  not  pro- 
ductive of  many  Boches  to  our  credit.    We  get  out 

*  Verdun. 

t  Reported  as  one  of  the  squadrons  of  the  Von  Richthofen  group. 

t  Toul.  The  squadron  moved  from  Toul  at  the  end  of  the  St.  Mihiel 
offensive,  to  a  field  south  of  the  Argonne  Forest,  in  preparation  for 
the  Argonne  offensive. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        265 

almost  every  day  but  are  all  the  time  flying  in  low 
clouds,  squalls  of  rain,  etc.,  which  make  it  unpleasant. 
Under  ordinary  conditions  we  would  not  be  flying  at 
all,  but  during  a  push  weather  conditions  make  little 
difference.  The  squadron  got  a  couple  of  Huns  this 
week,  but  I  was  not  in  either  of  the  fights,  as  I  have 
been  having  bad  luck  with  my  machine  and  had  to 
give  up  a  patrol  four  or  five  times  in  succession  due  to 
motor  trouble. 

Forgot  to  tell  you  that  I  now  have  a  new  machine 
of  a  special  type  mounting  a  most  murderous  weapon 
of  a  gun.  I  cannot  tell  you  just  what  this  gun  is,  but 
if  I  ever  hit  a  Boche  with  it  he  should  come  down  in 
small  pieces.  The  trouble  is  to  hit  them,  for  the  gun 
only  shoots  once  and  then  must  be  reloaded  by  hand. 
The  machine  was  made  specially  by  the  French  for 
poor  Dave  Putnam,  the  American  ''As  des  As,"  who 
was  taken  by  surprise  by  eight  Huns  at  the  beginning 
of  the  St.  Mihiel  offensive  and  brought  down.  I  was 
awfully  sorry  about  Putnam,  as  I  knew  him  quite 
well,  and  he  was  a  fine,  fearless,  unassuming  fellow, 
who  had  done  some  wonderful  work.  We  found  him 
in  our  lines  with  two  bullets  through  his  heart. 

The  machine  I  mention  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind 
in  the  American  service,  so  I  am  very  anxious  to  try 
it  out.  They  gave  it  to  me  when  Putnam  was  killed. 
Guynemer  had  one  and  Fonck  and  DeuUin  each  have 
one  and  have  used  them  with  fair  success.  I  do  not 
mean  by  this  statement  to  be  trying  to  class  myself 
with  them,  so  don't  start  to  kid  me  on  that  score. 
This  special  gun  is  difficult  to  use,  but  if  a  shot  ever 
hits  a  Him  he  might  just  as  well  say  his  prayers  and 
give  up,  if  he  has  time  to  think  about  anything  at  all. 


266  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

I  have  my  regular  machine  in  addition,  and  we  have 
really  been  so  busy  that  I  have  not  had  time  to  try  out 
the  new  one.  It  handles  differently  from  our  ordinary 
machines  and  I  wish  to  get  considerable  practice  before 
I  go  monkeying  around  any  Huns  with  it,  for  I  should 
hate  to  be  knocked  by  some  Heinie  just  because  I  could 
not  manoeuvre  my  new  plane  quickly.* 

Give  my  regards  to  every  one  in  the  office.    How  is 

Y these  days?    I  have  not  heard  from  him  for 

ages.  Has  he  any  offspring  yet?  I  remember  last 
fall  I  bet  him  I  could  get  a  Boche  before  he  had  any 
children. 

Belrain,  Oct.  14,  1918. 
What  do  you  all  think  of  the  news  from  all  the 
fronts  and  the  peace  prospects  from  the  Huns?  It 
certainly  is  wonderful  and  it  really  begins  to  look  at 
last  as  though  they  are  getting  a  bit  weak  in  the  knees. 
My  guess  is  that  it  will  either  be  all  over  by  the  time 
you  receive  this  letter  or  that  we  will  have  at  least 
another  year  of  it.  I  have  heretofore  thought  the  lat- 
ter certain,  but  it  now  looks  as  if  the  former  is  the 
more  probable,  and  I  surely  hope  so.  We  must  stick 
at  it  all  the  harder  for  the  time  being  until  the  war  is 
ended  as  it  should  be,  but  the  end  cannot  come  any 
too  soon  to  please  me.  I  spent  all  of  yesterday  search- 
ing the  battlefield  for  one  of  my  men  who  was  killed 

*  The  gun  mentioned  was  a  37  mm.  cannon,  which  shot  through 
the  hub  of  the  propeller.  It  fired  two  kinds  of  ammunition,  one  like 
a  huge  shotgun  cartridge  loaded  with  a  lot  of  slugs,  and  the  other  a 
combination  incendiary  and  high-explosive  shell,  which  would  explode 
upon  contact  with  any  part  of  an  aeroplane.  If,  therefore,  a  hit  was 
scored  even  on  the  wing  of  an  enemy  machine,  the  resulting  explosion 
would  blow  the  wing  off.  It  would  consequently  not  be  necessary  with 
this  gun,  as  it  is  with  a  machine  gun,  to  hit  that  small  area  of  a  machine, 
which  is  ordinarily  its  only  vital  spot,  in  order  to  bring  it  down. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        267 

about  ten  days  ago,  and  a  few  hours  spent  on  the 
ground  near  the  front  lines  impresses  the  horror  of  it 
all  upon  one  more  than  a  month's  flying  over  the 
same  lines.  The  man  I  speak  of  had  a  bit  of  the  hard- 
est luck  that  it  is  possible  for  a  flyer  to  have.  His 
name  was  Armstrong  and  he  was  one  of  my  flight 
commanders  and  about  the  most  valuable  man  I  had. 
Besides  being  an  extremely  nice  fellow  and  a  very 
skilful  pilot,  he  had  a  head  on  his  shoulders  which  he 
used  all  the  time  which  made  him  invaluable  as  a 
leader  of  the  younger  men.  He  had  learned  to  appre- 
ciate the  two  principal  points  in  this  game,  i.  e.,  that 
there  is  a  great  difference  between  foolhardiness  and 
true  courage,  and  that  nine-tenths  of  the  danger  comes 
from  another  enemy  than  the  one  which  you  are 
attacking.  The  realization  of  these  points,  coupled 
with  nerve  and  perseverance,  are,  I  think,  the  most 
important  qualities  of  a  successful  pilot. 

Armstrong  took  the  lead  of  a  patrol  one  cloudy 
day  when  I  was  forced  to  come  back  owing  to  motor 
trouble.  Shortly  after  the  patrol  reached  the  lines 
they  sighted  half  a  dozen  Fokkers  and  dove  to  attack 
them.  Owing  to  the  low  clouds  they  were  only  about 
600  metres  up  and  our  artillery  was  sending  over  a 
heavy  barrage.  Just  as  Armstrong  opened  up  on  a 
Fokker,  one  of  his  pilots  who  was  fifty  yards  in  rear  of 
him  suddenly  saw  his  right  wings  and  tail  fly  off  while 
the  rest  of  the  machine  fell  in  a  cloud  of  black  smoke, 
leaving  the  air  filled  with  fragments  of  the  plane.  He 
had  run  squarely  into  one  of  our  big  shells  on  its  way 
to  Germany.  There  could  be  no  other  explanation,  for 
the  fight  was  just  inside  our  lines  and  the  patrol  was 
not  being  fired  on  by  anti-aircraft  gims  at  the  time. 


268  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

This  same  thing  has  happened  a  number  of  times  be- 
fore, but  it  is  comparatively  rare,  and  coming  as  it  did 
to  one  of  our  best  men  just  when  every  experienced 
man  in  the  squadron  is  so  badly  needed,  was  about 
as  tough  a  bit  of  luck  as  one  could  imagine.  An  inti- 
mate friend  of  Armstrong  and  I  searched  high  and  low 
yesterday  for  some  trace  of  him,  but  could  find  noth- 
ing. We  expect  to  try  again  shortly;  for  after  my  ex- 
perience with  Oliver  I  know  how  much  this  would 
mean  to  Armstrong's  family  and  to  his  young  wife, 
whom  he  married  just  before  sailing  for  France. 

Armstrong  had  a  very  close  friend  who  has  now  taken 
his  place  in  the  squadron  as  a  flight  commander,  and 
there  were  two  other  men  who  were  also  about  as  close 
friends  as  I  think  it  is  possible  for  two  men  to  be. 
Both  these  pairs  were  old  friends  and  had  been  con- 
stantly together  in  their  training  and  work  at  the 
front  just  as  Oliver  and  I  were.  Now  one  is  gone 
from  each  and  the  distress  of  the  other  two  is  indeed 
pitiful  to  see  and  I  think  I  know  how  they  feel.  The 
loss  of  their  dearest  friend  has  shaken  them  as  nothing 
else  could  and,  although  it  will  probably  make  better 
men  of  them  in  the  end,  the  process  is  a  very  painful 
one.  One  of  these  men  fought  six  Huns  single-handed 
and  at  a  low  altitude  ten  miles  in  the  German  lines  in 
his  efforts  to  save  his  friend.  He  brought  down  one 
Hun  and  was  almost  killed  himself,  and  I  have  recom- 
mended him  for  the  D.  S.  C.  for  his  courage. 

The  fighting  on  the  ground  in  this  sector  has  been 
terrific  recently  and  the  opposition  stronger,  I  think, 
than  at  any  other  part  of  the  front.  The  Huns  seem 
to  have  massed  a  large  part  of  their  best  troops  oppo- 
site us,  and  in  addition  to  this  the  country  is  hilly  and 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.       269 

naturally  suitable  for  defense.  Walking  over  the  bat- 
tlefield was  a  very  interesting  though  gloomy  sight, 
for  the  day  was  stormy,  with  a  cold,  drizzling  rain. 
Everywhere  one  went  were  evidences  of  the  recent 
advance,  rifles  and  bayonets  lying  about  in  the  grass, 
here  and  there  various  articles  of  cast-off  clothing  and 
equipment,  and  occasionally  a  knot  of  bloody  bandages 
or  a  blood-soaked  shirt  where  some  poor  devil  had 
been  trying  to  tie  up  his  wounds.  As  you  go  forward 
you  pass  rows  of  holes  scooped  out  by  the  advancing 
infantry,  each  one  just  big  enough  to  hold  one  man. 

In  one  of  these,  rather  deeper  than  the  others,  I 
noticed  where  some  fellow  had  evidently  taken  shelter 
until  help  came  to  him.  In  his  pit  were  his  mess-kit  and 
some  empty  emergency  ration  tins,  all  lying  in  a  pool 
of  dark  blood.  While  we  were  there  our  artillery  was 
hard  at  it  but  the  Boche  shelling  was  only  very  inter- 
mittent. Every  now  and  then  you  would  hear  the 
whine  of  a  shell  coming  which  reminded  me  very  much 
of  May  15th,  although  none  of  them  came  very  close 
to  us.  Now  that  the  Huns  are  squealing  for  peace  I 
wish  that  I  could  take  President  Wilson,  who  is  evi- 
dently going  to  have  a  good  deal  to  say  about  the 
terms,  and  walk  with  him  over  some  of  these  battle- 
fields. Let  him  look  at  a  battle  in  progress,  and  at 
all  the  wreckage  behind  it,  at  the  fragments  l3dng 
about  of  what  were  once  men  "and  horses  and  at  a  once 
beautiful  country  now  reduced  to  a  barren  desert.  If 
he  could  see  the  ambulances  with  their  gruesome  loads, 
and  the  less  severely  wounded  hobbling  along  toward 
the  rear,  many  of  them  covered  with  blood  and  hav- 
ing wounds  which  would  ordinarily  call  for  an  ambu- 
lance but  having  to  walk  none  the  less  to  make  room 


270  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

for  others  worse  off  than  they.  If  he  could  then  pay 
a  visit  to  a  first-aid  dressing-post  and  to  the  receiving 
and  operating  rooms  of  a  field-hospital,  the  latter  a 
veritable  butcher  shop,  I  am  sure  that  he  would  feel 
as  most  of  the  men  at  the  front  feel,  that  there  can  be 
no  decent  peace  until  the  Huns  are  utterly  and  com- 
pletely defeated  and  made  to  pay  the  full  price  for  all 
the  misery  that  they  have  caused.  I  hope  those  higher 
up  appreciate  this  as  it  is,  but  a  httle  view  of  the  real 
thing  would  bring  it  home  to  them  as  all  the  pictures 
and  descriptions  in  the  world  never  can.  Some  of  the 
men  that  I  have  lost  from  this  squadron  have  been  of 
the  best  and  it  makes  one  sick  at  heart  to  see  these 
splendid  young  fellows,  the  finest  that  we  can  produce 
and  men  who  cannot  be  replaced,  dropping  off  singly 
and  in  bunches.  Of  their  families  I  know  nothing,  but 
knowing  the  men  themselves  and  the  stuff  that  was  in 
them,  one  knows  that  their  people  must  be  of  the 
right  sort  and  one  can  easily  imagine  the  sorrow  that 
must  be  caused  by  the  loss  of  such  men.  If  any  but 
the  right  kind  of  a  peace  should  come,  one  would 
always  feel  that  all  these  fine  fives  had  been  sacrificed 
in  vain. 

We  have  been  having  a  long  stretch  of  bad  weather, 
so  that  there  has  not  been  much  flying,  for  which  I 
have  been  rather  thankful  in  a  way,  as  the  men  needed 
the  rest.  I  have  personally  only  had  one  fight  since 
last  writing  and  that  a  very  unsuccessful  one.  We 
were  out  one  day  protecting  some  of  our  '^Liberty*' 
day  bombers  and  I  caught  a  Fokker  napping  who  had 
gotten  off  to  one  side  of  his  patrol  and  was  entirely 
taken  up  with  trying  to  get  a  shot  at  the  Liberties.  I 
dropped  down  on  him  and  sneaked  up  behind  without 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.       271 

his  seeing  me,  but  lost  him  by  my  same  old  trick  of 
shooting  too  soon.  I  thought  he  was  going  to  see  me  ** 
and  duck,  when  I  should  have  known  that  he  probably 
would  not  see  me.  I  opened  fire  at  about  a  hundred 
yards  range  and  gave  him  about  forty  shots,  some  of 
which  I  am  sure  hit  his  machine,  but  did  not  have  the 
luck  to  get  the  pilot.  He  pulled  up  in  my  face  into  a 
renversement  and  dove  on  his  nose  to  escape,  while  I 
was  prevented  from  following  him  by  the  rest  of  the 
Hun  patrol,  which  was  off  to  one  side,  and  by  my  job 
of  protecting  the  Liberties.  Was  so  disgusted  at  miss- 
ing him  anyhow  that  I  sort  of  felt  that  having  missed  ' 
such  an  easy  chance  I  did  not  care  much  if  the  Boche 
did  get  away.  If  I  had  only  waited  as  I  should  have 
until  I  was  right  on  top  of  him  I  could  not  well  have 
missed  him.  I  certainly  am  an  idiot  not  to  have 
learned  better  judgment  by  this  time. 
The  fight  I  mentioned  in  one  of  my  earlier  letters, 

when  I  said  that  F was  sitting  on  a  nearby  hill 

watching  the  whole  show,  occurred  in  this  wise.  About 
a  week  after  I  got  that  Rumpler  three  of  us  were  out 
looking  for  another  one  and  found  him  at  5,500  metres, 
a  considerable  distance  in  our  lines,  I  had  a  stronger 
motor  than  the  others  and  climbed  up  under  him  first, 
and  made  him  turn  to  protect  himself.  I  drove  him 
down  a  little,  never  getting  very  close,  and  then  we 
all  three  pounced  on  him  and  shot  the  observer's 
gun  away  from  him  so  that  the  Him  was  practically 
helpless  and  should  have  been  easy  meat.  Then  the 
Fates  turned  against  us,  for  one  of  my  men's  motor 
failed  him  so  that  he  had  to  land  while  both  the  other 
fellow's  guns  jammed.  He  pulled  up  for  a  minute  to 
fix  them  and  lost  the  fight,  for  just  at  that  moment  I 


272  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

and  the  Hun  were  playing  hide-and-go-seek  around  the 
edges  of  some  big  white  puffy  clouds.  I  kept  after  the 
Boche  (another  Rumpler  with  a  big  white  number  8 
on  the  side  of  his  fuselage),  but  he  manoeuvred  very 
well  and  made  it  almost  impossible  to  get  a  decent 
shot  at  him.  I  would  give  him  a  burst  now  and  then 
to  turn  him  and  drive  him  down  low  in  our  lines  where 
he  would  have  to  stop  his  tricks,  relying  all  the  time 
on  having  two  men  with  me  to  help  finish  him  off. 
Finally  I  drove  him  down  to  50  metres,  about  a  mile 

in  front  of  F 's  balloon  and  some  four  miles  in  our 

lines.  That  day  my  own  machine  was  out  of  commis- 
sion and  I  was  flying  a  plane  especially  equipped  with 
large  balloon  guns  shooting  incendiary  ammunition. 

They  do  not  carry  as  much  ammunition  and  are  not 
as  reliable  as  our  ordinary  guns  and  I  had  fired  a  good 
many  shots  at  long  range  to  drive  the  Hun  down  rather 
than  with  any  thought  of  getting  him  at  such  a  dis- 
tance. Then,  to  my  consternation,  when  I  had  gotten 
the  Boche  just  where  I  wanted  him  I  found  that  my 
companions  were  nowhere  to  be  seen  and  that  I  had 
fired  all  the  ammunition  out  of  one  gun,  while  the 
band  in  the  other  was  broken.  While  I  had  been 
shooting  I  had,  of  course,  had  to  manoeuvre  so  as  to 
protect  myself,  for  even  after  we  silenced  the  observer's 
gun  it  was  some  little  time  before  I  realized  that  he 
could  not  shoot  and  saw  that  his  gun  was  pointing  idly 
up  in  the  air  beside  him.  When  I  saw  that  Boche 
skimming  the  tree-tops  and  just  before  I  discovered 
that  my  own  guns  were  useless,  I  had  visions  of  getting 
another  Rumpler  intact  with  two  prisoners  this  time. 
Reckon  I  was  a  bit  too  cocky  from  my  previous  expe- 
rience.   Unfortunately  the  Boche  had  a  good  motor 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        273 

this  time  and  would  not  land,  but  kept  trying  to  get 
back  to  his  Hues. 

When  I  found  that  I  could  not  shoot  I  kept  manoeu- 
vring with  him,  and  for  ten  minutes  tried  to  run  him 
into  the  trees  or  a  house  or  to  herd  him  over  to  the 
balloon  where  the  machine  gunners  on  the  ground 
could  get  him.  Tried  every  bluff  I  could  think  of  to 
make  him  land,  diving  down  and  coming  up  under  his 
tail  as  though  I  was  going  to  shoot  him,  and  several 
times  pulling  up  when  the  nose  of  my  machine  was 
only  a  few  feet  from  him,  in  the  hope  that  he  would 
think  that  a  wild  American  was  trying  to  run  him 
down  and  thus  scare  him  into  landing.  All  the  time 
the  observer  was  standing  facing  me  in  his  cockpit, 
and  as  I  would  dive  down  on  him  he  would  lean  over, 
tap  the  pilot  on  the  shoulder  and  yell  in  his  ear  which 
way  to  turn,  at  the  same  time  pointing  first  one  direc- 
tion and  then  another.  I  think  I  would  almost  recog- 
nize that  fellow;  he  had  a  small  brown  mustache  and 
a  rather  pasty  face  and  was  wearing  one  of  those  big 
round  cork  helmets  that  we  used  to  have  in  the  schools. 

During  these  proceedings  the  Boche  pilot^s  gun  was 
all  right,  but  it  is  not  very  hard  to  keep  out  of  the  way 
of  that.  Finally  after  ten  minutes  or  so  of  this  game 
the  Huns  caught  on  to  the  fact  that  I  could  not  shoot 
and  started  for  home,  allowing  me  to  do  more  or  less 
as  I  pleased.  Made  one  last  effort  to  bluff  them  as 
we  reached  the  hues,  but  it  was  no  use  and  the  observer 
even  went  so  far  as  to  wave  at  me  as  I  turned  off  for 
the  last  time.  Then  what  did  they  do  but  turn  around 
and  chase  me  home  several  miles  into  our  lines,  the 
pilot  plugging  away  at  me  with  his  gun. 

We  had  climbed  up  three  or  four  hundred  metres 


274  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

by  this  time  and  I  have  always  wondered  what  our 
''doughboys^'  must  have  thought  when  they  saw  one 
of  their  Spads  dashing  full  speed  for  home  with  a  big 
old  Rumpler  on  his  tail.  As  you  know,  the  Rumpler 
is  a  two-seater  reconnaissance  machine,  which  usually 
only  fights  to  protect  itself  when  attacked.  I  had  no 
trouble  in  getting  out  of  his  way,  but  it  was  the  most 
ignominious  thing  I  ever  had  happen  to  me  and  I 
have  not  gotten  over  feeling  sore  about  it  to  this  day. 
It  was  just  like  having  a  Hun  tied  to  a  tree  and  then 
having  to  let  him  go,  for  all  the  hard  part  was  over, 
and  all  that  was  needed  to  finish  him  was  half  a  dozen 
more  shots.  I  kept  praying  all  the  time  that  another 
one  of  our  machines  would  come  along  or  that  some 
one  walking  down  the  road  would  bring  the  Boche 
down  with  a  pistol  or  a  brick  or  any  old  thing.  Can 
you  beat  the  whole  thing  for  a  crazy  combat?  When 
I  saw  that  he  was  going  to  get  away  I  almost  cried 
with  mortification. 

Hobe  Baker  has  certainly  had  a  run  of  the  hardest 

kind  of  luck.    Both  he  and  M were  recommended 

by  me  to  take  squadrons  of  their  own  and  each  was 

given  a  squadron,  but  Hobe  came  ahead  of  M , 

and  was  the  first  to  go.  As  bad  luck  would  have  it. 
Baker's  squadron  was  not  yet  ready,  while  the  one 

which  M was  given  a  week  later  was  all  ready  to 

go  to  the  front.    Now  M 's  squadron  has  been 

operating  on  the  front  for  six  weeks  while  Hobe  is  still 
in  the  rear  and  has  not  even  got  his  pilots  and  machines 
yet,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  immediate  prospect  of 
his  getting  them  when  I  last  heard  from  him.  It  is 
too  bad,  for  Hobe  is  one  of  the  very  best,  a  very  skilful 
pilot,  and  has  all  the  nerve  in  the  world  and  is  a  thor- 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        275 

ough  gentleman.  He  is  one  of  the  fairest,  most  straight- 
forward fellows  I  know  and  should  make  an  excellent 
squadron  commander,  but  he  has  struck  rum  luck 
from  the  start.  I  know  how  he  frets  in  his  present 
position  and  wishes  he  could  be  here  at  the  front  with 
us  again. 

Things  have  been  going  along  about  as  usual  here 
lately,  almost  continuous  rain  and  bad  weather.  The 
constant  damp  has  laid  a  good  many  of  the  men  up 
with  grippe,  but  I  have  personally  been  very  well 
except  for  a  slight  cold,  which  is  practically  gone  now. 
Had  one  clear  day,  day  before  yesterday,  and  in  lead- 
ing a  high  patrol  I  managed  to  get  my  nose  and  upper 
lip  frostbitten;  they  are  healing  now  and  I  am  a  pretty 
sight  but  quite  well  just  the  same.  Had  a  Httle  excite- 
ment on  this  flight,  but  no  results,  I  fear.  I  spotted 
five  Fokkers  sailing  along  a  short  distance  in  their 
lines  and  slid  around  behind  them  to  attack  the  high 
one.  Before  we  got  very  close  I  saw  a  lone  Fokker 
away  from  the  others  and  flying  straight  into  our 
lines.  This  looked  like  easy  meat  so  I  took  after  him, 
tagging  along  behind  him  for  a  mile  to  let  him  go  as 
far  as  he  would  into  our  territory.  When  he  got  a 
mile  or  so  in  I  put  on  my  motor  full  speed  and  came 
diving  down  on  top  of  him,  all  the  time  searching  the 
sky  for  others,  as  I  felt  sure  that  the  Huns  were  up  to 
one  of  their  old  tricks.  The  lone  Boche  had,  I  think, 
been  watching  us  all  the  time,  for  when  I  got  within  a 
hundred  yards  of  him  and  before  I  would  have  opened 
fire,  he  started  to  turn  back  under  me,  offering  only 
the  most  difficult  kind  of  a  shot.  I  gave  it  to  him  and 
hit  him,  I  think,  and  then  pulled  up  to  fix  one  of  my 
guns  which  had  jammed,  and  to  look  for  the  other 


276  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Boches.  Two  of  the  men  with  me  shot  at  the  Boche 
and  we  followed  him  down  a  Httle,  he  continually 
working  back  into  his  own  lines.  Then  I  saw  his  httle 
game,  for  here  came  his  five  friends,  and  he  trying  to 
lead  us  in  under  them.  As  soon  as  I  caught  sight  of 
them  I  pulled  up  and  started  to  climb,  at  the  same 
time  waving  my  wings  as  a  signal  for  the  patrol  to 
stop  chasing  the  single  Hun  and  fall  into  position. 
One  man,  however,  a  most  excellent  pilot  and  one  of 
my  flight  commanders,  did  not  see  me  pull  up,  and  I 
saw  him  do  just  what  I  had  feared  all  along.  He  dove 
down  after  the  first  Hun,  entirely  failing  to  see  the 
others  coming  above,  then  as  he  pulled  up  after  shoot- 
ing he  pulled  directly  into  the  faces  of  three  Fokkers, 
all  of  whom  had  altitude  on  him.  The  only  thing  he 
could  do  was  to  run,  but  this  is  no  easy  matter  with  a 
couple  of  Huns  close  on  your  tail.  I  saw  my  pilot 
turn  and  start  ducking  back  for  our  lines,  with  two 
Boches  close  after  him.  I  was  by  that  time  above 
the  whole  gang,  so,  as  our  man  came  toward  me  with 
the  two  Boches  behind  him,  I  stood  on  my  nose  and 
dove  for  all  I  was  worth,  both  guns  wide  open  and 
aiming  in  front  of  the  Huns.  There  was  no  time  to 
really  aim,  as  I  was  afraid  that  a  delay  of  a  second 
might  mean  the  end  of  our  pilot,  so  I  just  sprayed  the 
sky  in  front  of  the  Huns  with  tracer  and  incendiary 
bullets,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  distract  their 
attention  sufficiently  to  let  our  fellow  get  away.  I 
think  the  fuss  I  created  did  make  them  hesitate  a  lit- 
tle, and  the  Spad  took  advantage  of  this  to  dive  like 
mad,  and  got  safely  away  without  a  single  bullet  hole 
in  him.  I  had  myself  gotten  under  the  top  Boches 
by  this  time,  so  pursued  my  usual  poHcy,  "He  who 
fights  and  runs  away,"  etc.,  and  lit  out  for  home 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        277 

before  they  got  close  enough  to  bother  me.  Altogether 
a  rather  unsuccessful  party,  but  one  in  which  I  think 
our  men  learned  a  few  things.  But  the  nerve  of  that 
soUtary  Boche  to  let  us  jump  him  so  that  he  could 
lead  us  into  a  trap,  and  the  confidence  he  must  have 
had,  both  in  himself  and  his  companions !  If  we  did 
not  get  him  we  at  least  gave  him  the  thrill  of  his  life, 
and  I  think  his  mechanics  will  be  busy  for  a  day  or 
two  changing  wings  and  patching  holes.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  gaudily  painted  boys  you  ever  laid  eyes 
on,  bright  red  wings  and  fuselage  as  far  back  as  the 
pilot^s  seat,  and  the  rest  of  the  body  pure  white  with 
black  crosses.  In  the  middle  of  his  top  plane  a  black 
and  white  checkerboard.* 

I  also  recognized  the  markings  of  the  others  as  one 
of  the  best-known  Hun  squadrons,  broad  black  and 
white  bands,  the  same  as  a  gang  that  I  had  a  fight 
with  over  Noyon  last  April.  Some  of  the  Huns  with 
red  wings  have  the  rest  of  their  machines  a  brilliant 
sky  blue  and  are  really  beautiful  to  look  at.  There  is 
a  great  deal  of  the  best  German  chasse  concentrated 
on  our  sector  now  and  the  pilots  are  certainly  good, 
there  is  no  use  denying  that  fact.  They  have  lots  of 
fight  in  them  and  the  way  some  of  them  can  throw 
their  machines  around  in  the  air  shows  clearly  that 
they  are  old  hands  at  the  game.  I  wrote  you  a  while 
ago  that  I  plugged  one  of  this  checkerboard  crew,  but 
I  would  like  to  drop  one  of  that  red-winged  outfit. 
We  knocked  a  couple  of  them  down  in  the  last  offensive 
but  they  got  more  of  us  than  we  did  of  them. 

Gave  myself  quite  a  thrill  the  other  day  when  we 

*A  few  days  later  it  was  reported  by  American  observers  on  the 
ground  that  this  German  had  crashed  in  his  own  Unes.  A  good  illus- 
tration of  how  impossible  it  often  is  for  a  pilot  to  be  certain  whether 
or  not  he  has  brought  down  his  antagonist. 


278  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

were  out  on  a  strafing  expedition.  A  great  deal  of 
traffic  was  reported  on  a  certain  road*  about  five  miles 
inside  the  Him  lines  and  we  were  ordered  to  attack  it 
with  machine  guns  and  bombs.  I  was  leading  a  patrol 
of  about  seven  machines,  but  when  we  got  back  near 
the  road  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  on  it  at  all.  We 
therefore  flew  over  and  dropped  our  bombs  on  some 
cars  standing  in  a  railroad  yard  along  a  river,  f  and  then 
came  down  along  the  road  to  make  sure  that  there  was 
nothing  there.  Seeing  nothing,  I  fired  a  number  of 
rounds  into  a  village  J  where  there  seemed  to  be  a  few 
soldiers,  and  then  caught  sight  of  a  big  Hun  wagon, 
which  looked  Hke  an  old-fashioned  prairie-schooner, 
going  slowly  down  the  road,  drawn  by  four  horses.  I 
dove  down  over  the  trees,  and  shot  one  of  the  rear 
horses,  but  did  not  have  time  to  watch  the  result,  for 
something  went  wrong  with  the  timing  mechanism  of 
one  of  my  guns  and  I  shot  three  or  four  holes  through 
my  own  propeller,  knocking  several  big  hunks  out  of 
it.  The  effect  of  this  is  to  throw  the  propeller  out  of 
balance,  and  my  motor  started  to  vibrate  as  though 
it  were  going  to  jump  right  out  of  the  machine.  The 
motor  acted  as  if  it  might  stop  at  any  moment,  and, 
being  five  miles  inside  the  Hun  lines  and  only  two 
hundred  yards  high,  I  had  most  unpleasant  visions  of 
ignominiously  ending  the  war  by  shooting  myself 
down  in  Germany.  Slowed  my  motor  down  as  much 
as  possible  to  have  it  still  keep  me  going,  and  nursed  it 
along,  so  that  it  brought  me  back  to  our  lines,  where  I 
landed  on  an  advance  flying  field  until  a  new  propeller 
could  be  sent  up  from  the  Squadron.    In  flying  back 

*  From  Dun-sur-Meuse  to  Banth^ville. 

t  At  Dun-sur-Meuse.  J  Aincreville. 


13th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        279 

to  our  lines  I  found  it  rather  hard  to  force  oneself  to 
fly  along  at  extreme  slow  speed  just  over  the  heads  of 
a  lot  of  Heinies,  who,  of  course,  take  delight  in  shoot- 
ing at  you.  There  were  evidently  no  good  bird  shots 
among  them,  however,  for  they  never  touched  me. 

One  of  the  other  squadrons  in  this  group  had  an 
amusing  time  with  a  Hun  a  few  days  ago.  Eight  of 
them  caught  a  sohtary  two-seater  in  our  lines  and  sur- 
rounded him,  the  Hun  got  scared  and  dove  down  to 
600  metres,  all  the  time  following  down  the  course  of 
a  river*  which  runs  into  our  lines.  Some  of  the  pilots 
thought  that  perhaps  they  could  make  the  Boche  land 
and  have  some  fun  with  his  machine,  and  get  some  sou- 
venirs, but  the  Hun  observer  kept  taking  pot-shots  at 
them  all  the  time.  Finally  one  youngster  went  down 
right  beside  the  Boche  and  motioned  for  him  to  land, 
but  for  reply  the  observer  shot  the  stuffing  out  of  him, 
blowing  a  hole  in  his  wind  shield  right  in  front  of  his 
nose  and  starting  a  fire  in  his  machine.  This  made 
the  American  pilot  a  bit  sore,  to  say  the  least,  so  he 
sailed  into  the  Hun,  shot  the  pilot  through  the  head 
and  set  the  plane  on  fire.  Just  before  he  hit  the 
ground  the  observer  jumped  out  and  then  the  Hun 
machine  spread  itself  all  over  a  field.  The  American, 
having  a  small  fire  on  board  himself,  had  to  get  down 
as  quickly  as  possible,  which  he  did,  but  unfortunately 
picked  out  a  barbed-wire  entanglement.  This  wiped 
off  his  landing  gear,  while  he  and  his  machine  turned 
a  somersault  over  the  wire  and  brought  up  upside 
down.  He  was  never  even  scratched,  so  crawls  out 
of  his  machine,  grabs  his  pistol,  and  dashes  over  to 
where  the  Boches  were  for  fear  they  might  get  away 

*  The  Meuse. 


280  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

from  him.  As  one  of  them  had  just  fallen  300  feet 
and  the  other  was  burning  up  in  the  wreck  of  his 
machine,  this  was  a  rather  unnecessary  but  amusing 
precaution.  Some  of  these  young  pilots  of  ours  do 
the  craziest  things  you  ever  heard  of,  but  the  nerve  of 
some  of  them  and  the  way  they  will  fight  is  simply 
great.  They  are  constantly  confronting  the  Huns 
with  the  unexpected  and  getting  away  with  it  by  the 
very  audacity  of  their  methods. 

One  often  hears  tales  of  men  who  have  landed 
behind  the  German  lines  and  been  able  to  get  away 
again,  but  I  never  personally  knew  of  a  case  until  the 
other  day.  A  new  pilot  from  this  group  got  separated 
from  the  rest  of  his  formation  during  a  fight  which  took 
place  far  the  other  side  of  the  lines.  Two  Huns  got 
on  his  tail  and  although  he  tried  everything  he  could 
think  of  to  get  rid  of  them,  he  could  not  shake  them 
off,  and  they  ran  him  right  down  to  the  ground  and 
forced  him  to  land  in  their  lines.  His  plane  was  badly 
shot  up,  but  by  great  good  fortune  neither  he  nor  his 
motor  was  hit.  When  he  landed  he  left  his  motor 
turning  over  slowly  and  lay  over  in  his  cockpit  as 
though  he  had  been  shot,  the  Huns  all  the  time  circling 
about  just  above  his  head.  They  evidently  thought  he 
was  done  for,  for  after  looking  him  over  they  flew 
away,  whereupon  our  pilot  took  off  and  came  home. 
A  mighty  neat  trick,  but  the  next  man  who  tries  it  is 
going  to  be  out  of  luck,  for  the  Huns  probably  will 
not  be  satisfied  until  they  have  shot  him  to  pieces. 

I  would  like  to  say  a  word  about  the  enhsted  men  of 
the  American  Air  Service  units  as  I  have  seen  them 
on  the  front.  The  men  of  my  own  squadron  are,  I 
know,  an  exceptional  lot,  and  one  could  ask  for  no 


A  direct  hit. 

Spad  plane  of  the  author's  squadron  which  had  a  forced  landing  three  miles 
from  the  lines  but  within  sight  of  the  German  observation-balloons.  Un- 
til the  Hun  artillery  obtained  this  hit  there  was  nothing  the  matter  with 
the  machine  but  a  broken  gasoline  line. 


The  end  of  a  famous  American  ace. 

Brought  down  near  Limey,  France,  in  the  St.  Mihiel  sector,  on  the  first  day 
(,f  the  offensive,  September,  1018. 


J  3th  aero  squadron,  A.  E.  F.        281 

better,  and  although  I  do  not  believe  the  general  aver- 
age can  come  up  to  the  standard  of  the  men  of  the 
13th  Squadron,  it  is  nevertheless  very  good.  The  men 
are  intelligent,  hard-working,  and  conscientious.  They 
as  a  whole  take  pride  in  their  machines  and  in  their 
pilots,  and  you  cannot  imagine  what  a  comfort  it  is 
to  a  pilot  to  feel  that  his  mechanics  are  careful  and 
have  his  safety  at  heart.  When  the  enlisted  personnel 
first  came  out,  they  had  had  very  Httle  experience 
with  the  type  of  motor  which  we  use,*  and  although 
this  lack  of  experience  caused  us  some  minor  troubles, 
the  men  pitched  in  with  a  will  and  overcame  this 
handicap  in  a  remarkably  short  time. 

The  pride  and  affection  which  a  good  pilot  can  in- 
spire in  his  mechanics  and  the  grief  of  the  men  when 
their  own  particular  aviator  does  not  come  back,  is 
sometimes  very  touching. 

When  a  pilot  does  not  return  from  the  last  after- 
noon patrol  before  dark,  we  put  out  gasoline  flares 
on  the  field  to  guide  him  home,  in  case  he  loses  his 
way  in  the  dusk.  The  Spad  only  carries  sufficient 
gasoline  to  stay  in  the  air  for  about  two  hours  and 
twenty  minutes,  and  yet  I  have  seen  a  mechanic  insist 
on  keeping  the  flares  burning  until  9  o'clock  at  night 
for  a  man  who  had  gone  out  at  4.  Other  men  telling 
him  that  it  was  useless  had  no  effect,  for  he  said  he 
knew  that  there  was  not  any  Hun  good  enough  to  kill 
his  pilot,  and  that  he  just  had  to  come  back.  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  this  fellow's  faith  was  rewarded,  for 
his  pilot  showed  up  the  next  day,  having  had  a  forced 
landing  far  from  his  home  field.  I  have  seen  other 
mechanics  sit  down  and  cry  like  children  when  we 

*  The  Hispano-Suiza  220  H.  P. 


282  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

would  come  back  from  a  fight  and  tell  them  that  their 
pilot  had  gone  down,  and,  again,  I  have  known  them 
to  walk  around  for  half  the  night,  unable  to  sleep, 
because  their  man  was  missing. 


4th  pursuit  group,   A.  E.  F. 


Insignia  of  U.  S.  MiUtary  PUot 


Oct.  27,  1918,  4th  Pursuit  Group, 
American  E.  F.,  Toul. 

As  you  will  see  by  the  heading  of  this  letter  I  am  no 
longer  with  the  13th  Aero  Squadron.  Two  days  ago 
I  received  orders  relieving  me  of  that  command,  and 
have  been  made  C.  0.  of  the  4th  Pursuit  Group,  which 
comprises  four  chasse  squadrons  and  one  squadron  for 
the  overhaul  of  motors,  headquarters  work,  etc.  Have 
got  three  squadrons  now  and  the  other  two  arrive  in 
a  week's  time.  The  group,  however,  is  an  entirely 
new  one,  as  are  several  of  the  squadrons  in  it,  and  it  is 
up  to  me  to  organize  it  and  get  it  working  as  soon  as 
possible.  As  I  have  as  yet  hardly  any  group  head- 
quarters staff  or  organization  to  operate  with  and  have 
somewhere  between  1,000  and  1,100  officers  and  men 
to  look  after,  you  may  imagine  that  time  does  not 
hang  heavily  on  my  hands. 

I  guess  this  new  job  pretty  nearly  finishes  my  days 
of  active  flying  on  the  lines,  although  I  did  manage  to 
bring  with  me  my  special  machine  which  I  must  try 
out  on  a  Boche  the  first  chance  I  get.  By  the  way, 
that  Hun  with  the  red  wings  I  wrote  you  about  last 
week  was  confirmed,  so  I  guess  he  was  not  quite  so 
smart  as  he  thought  he  was.  Expect  to  have  so  much 
organization  work  to  do  in  the  next  month  that  I 
doubt  very  much  if  I  shall  be  able  to  fly  at  all  during 
that  time.  The  weather  continues  punk,  though,  so 
I  guess  I  am  not  missing  much.  Have  been  figuring  it 
out  roughly  and  the  property,  planes,  trucks,  etc., 
which  I  have  in  the  group  comes  to  about  ($2,000,000) 

285 


286  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

two  million  dollars  in  money  value.  When  one  con- 
siders what  a  small  item  a  single  group  is  in  the  whole 
army  one  does  not  wonder  that  you  are  all  having 
Liberty  Loan  drives  at  home. 

P.  S. — The  boy  with  the  red  wings  makes  my  seventh 
official  Hun. 

TouL,  Nov.  12,  1918 
It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  whole  show  is  really 
over  and  that  we  shall  probably  never  have  to  fight 
again.  Yesterday  morning  they  called  me  up  from 
headquarters  and  said  that  no  more  patrols  were  to 
go  out  as  the  armistice  went  into  effect  at  11  a.  m.  I 
hung  up  the  receiver  with  a  sort  of  a  "Well !  What  do 
we  do  now?''  feeling.  It  is  a  wonderful  rehef  to  have 
it  over,  but  it  does  leave  you  with  a  very  much  ''let 
down"  feeling,  as  though  one  had  suddenly  lost  one's 
job.  Having  been  at  it  so  long  it  almost  seems  as 
though  one  had  never  done  anythmg  else  and  that 
one's  reason  for  existing  had  suddenly  ceased.  I  wish 
I  could  simply  drop  everything  and  come  home,  but 
I  fear  that  time  is  still  a  long  way  off.  With  125  offi- 
cers and  about  950  men  on  my  hands  I  shall  be  mighty 
busy  devising  means  to  keep  them  well  and  amused 
and  out  of  mischief.  Then  again,  this  being  only  an 
armistice,  the  formation  of  the  group,  gathering  of  sup- 
plies, planes,  etc.,  goes  on  as  usual  as  though  the  War 
were  to  last  forever,  so  that  I  shall  be  just  as  busy  as 
if  nothing  had  happened.  Our  days  of  air  fighting  are 
over,  I  guess,  but  the  administration  and  organization 
work  goes  on  as  usual  and  I  am  mighty  sick  of  it.  We 
shall  be  a  sort  of  international  police  for  a  while,  but 
here's  hoping  they  hurry  up  with  the  peace  confab 


4th  pursuit  group,  A.  E.  F.         287 

so  that  we  can  all  close  up  shop  and  come  home. 
About  our  only  chance  for  excitement  will  be  strafing 
some  Hun  riot,  which  would  be  lots  of  fun.  That  is 
the  way  I  Uke  to  fight,  against  some  one  who  cannot  y 
do  much  shooting  back  and  turning  one^s  machine 
gims  on  a  Boche  revolution  ought  to  furnish  no  end  of 
amusement  to  us  bloodthirsty  fighting  guys ! !  It  will 
be  immensely  interesting,  though,  if  we  should  be  sent 
up  to  the  Rhine  and  live  among  the  Hun  population 
for  a  while.  One  thing  this  young  man  intends  to  do 
in  such  a  situation  is  to  always  carry  a  couple  of  auto- 
matics about  with  him,  for  having  seen  the  War  through 
this  far  he  has  no  desire  to  have  some  swine  of  a  Hun 
stab  him  in  the  back  on  a  dark  night. 

What  do  you  all  think  of  the  armistice  terms?  If 
they  go  through  with  them  they  do  not  leave  the  Hun 
much  chalice  to  start  the  war  again,  do  they?  There 
does  not  seem  one  chance  in  a  thousand  that  there  will 
be  any  more  fighting  outside  of  what  the  Boches  may 
do  to  each  other  if  there  is  a  revolution.  When  one 
thinks  of  the  critical  situation  in  which  we  were  last 
June,  it  seems  nothing  less  than  a  miracle  that  this 
wonderful  change  should  have  come  about  and  the 
war  be  over  in  so  short  a  time.  I  suppose  Foch  will 
be  considered  the  world's  greatest  general  and  he  cer- 
tainly deserves  it.  No  man  ever  had  as  difficult  and 
stupendous  a  job  handed  over  to  him,  and  it  is  hard 
to  see  how  he  could  have  handled  it  better. 

Had  to  interrupt  this  epistle  this  afternoon  and 
have  just  now  come  in  from  a  movie  show  which  we 
set  up  for  the  men  in  an  old  barn.  One  of  the  squad- 
ron commanders  bought  a  first-rate  machine  the  other 
day  and  we  get  a  new  set  of  pictures  each  day  through 


288  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  To-night  was  the  first  show  and  the 
pictures  were  really  splendid,  as  good  as  anything  you 
ever  saw  in  a  first-class  movie  house  at  home.  The 
show  to-night  was  ''The  Three  Things'^ — you  remem- 
ber that  little  story  about  the  war  by  Mary  Shipman 
Andrews.  We  must  try  to  get  a  lot  of  comics  of  the 
Charley  Chaplin  variety;  I  think  they  appeal  to  the 
men  more  than  anything;  one  gets  a  bit  fed  up  on  this 
war  business.  The  movie  machine  cost  3,700  francs, 
but  we  charge  a  small  admission  fee,  and  if  the  attend- 
ance to-night  continues  it  will  not  take  long  to  pay 
for  the  apparatus.  The  girl  who  took  the  heroine's 
part  to-night  was  the  prettiest  thing  you  ever  saw.  I 
would  like  to  see  her  in  real  life,  just  to  see  how  much 
of  it  was  make-up;  the  original  article  would  probably 
be  an  awful  disappointment, 

A  peculiar  thing  happened  here  day  before  yester- 
day. It  cleared  up  for  a  spell  and  a  Rumpler  came  in 
over  the  field  very  high  up,  our  attention  being  at- 
tracted by  the  ''Archies''  blazing  away  at  him.  For 
fifteen  months  I  have  watched  "Archie"  shoot  at  Hun 
planes  and  never  saw  him  hit  one  yet,  but  on  the  last 
day  of  the  War,  as  we  watched  this  fellow,  he  sud- 
denly went  into  a  spin  as  a  shell  burst  near  him  and 
spun  down  for  about  2,000  metres.  The  observer  fell 
overboard  and  then  the  pilot  straightened  his  machine 
out  and  suddenly  popped  overboard  with  a  parachute, 
leaving  his  machine  to  take  care  of  itself.  Down  she 
came  and  dove  head  first  into  the  ground  with  a  crash 
that  we  could  hear  two  mUes  away.  It  seemed  to  take 
the  pilot  forever  to  come  down  in  his  parachute,  but  he 
finally  landed  perfectly  all  right.  He  said  the  "  Archie  " 
did  not  get  him  but  that  he  side-slipped  into  a  spin  by 


4th  pursuit  group,  A.  E.  F.         289 

accident  and  his  observer  fell  out.  Why  he  should 
have  jumped  from  a  perfectly  good  machine,  even 
though  his  observer  was  gone,  is  hard  to  see,  for  there 
were  none  of  our  planes  anywhere  about.  I  think,  the 
man  must  have  been  lying,  although  I  must  admit 
that  the  "Archies^'  did  not  appear  to  be  coming  very 
close  to  him.  He  said  that  they  were  all  expecting  the 
armistice  to  be  signed,  and  that  his  C.  0.  had  told  the 
squadron  that  no  one  need  fly,  but  that  he  and  his 
observer  had  gone  out  anyhow  for  a  bit  of  a  joy-ride. 
They  got  it  all  right.  The  observer  hit  so  hard  he 
made  a  great  big  hole  in  the  ground. 

Speaking  of  guardian  angels,  as  parachutes  are 
dubbed  in  the  air  service,  I  remember  one  which 
worked  very  well,  but  perhaps  not  just  as  the  Huns 
intended  it  to.  During  the  fighting  near  Reims  last 
spring  a  Hup.  [  two-seater  was  attacked  by  several 
French  Spads.  The  Boche  pilot  put  his  machine  into 
a  spin  and  allowed  it  to  fall  a  long  distance  in  this  way, 
this,  of  course,  being  merely  a  ruse  to  escape.  He 
evidently  put  up  a  pretty  good  bluff,  because  his 
observer  got  scared,  and  thinking  that  his  pilot  had 
been  hit,  jumped  overboard  in  his  parachute.  Just 
before  the  plane  reached  the  ground,  however,  the 
pilot  straightened  her  out  and  flew  safely  back  to  his 
own  lines,  while  the  observer  with  his  parachute  landed 
equally  safely  in  our  lines. 

I  wish  I  could  get  off  for  a  few  days  and  go  to  Paris, 
for  there  are  a  number  of  people  there  I  should  hke  to 
see,  to  say  nothing  of  the  tremendous  celebration  they 
must  be  having.  I  ran  over  to  Nancy  last  night  in 
my  car,  and  if  the  spree  in  Paris  was  like  the  one  there, 
it  must  have  been  a  wild  night  on  the  boulevards. 


290  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Am  afraid,  however,  that  I  shall  have  to  miss  it  all,  for 
there  seems  to  be  Httle  prospect  of  my  getting  away 
^  just  now.  Perhaps  a  Httle  later  I  can  arrange  it.  I 
hope  so,  for  I  feel  pretty  stale  and  think  a  few  days' 
change  would  do  me  good.  I  will  admit  now  that 
there  have  been  days  recently  when  I  did  not  want  to 
fly  a  bit,  the  losses  in  the  squadron  were  so  heavy  that 
it  was  hard  not  to  let  it  get  on  one's  nerves.  Twelve 
pilots  in  three  weeks  is  pretty  hard  on  the  morale  of 
the  ten  who  are  left.  I  am  speaking  of  the  original 
members,  for  a  squadron  is,  of  course,  kept  up  to 
strength  by  replacements.  Things  went  much  better 
afterward,  however,  and  for  a  month  we  had  no  losses 
at  all  and  the  squadron  did  some  good  work.  A  couple 
of  days  after  I  left  it  seven  of  them  jimiped  on  seven 
Fokkers  and  shot  down  six  without  any  of  our  men 
even  getting  their  planes  shot  up.  That  is  a  clean-up 
which  is  hard  to  beat;  in  fact,  the  most  successful  fight 
I  have  ever  heard  of  and  I  certainly  hated  to  miss  it. 
Now  the  open  season  for  Huns  is  over  and  you  can't 
half  guess  how  glad  I  am.  To-night  the  moon  is  shin- 
ing and  we  admire  it  instead  of  swearing  at  it  and  tak- 
ing to  the  dugouts.  It  is  almost  too  good  to  be  true 
to  think  that  before  very  long  we  shall  be  home  again. 
There  have  naturally  been  a  good  many  days  when 
the  chance  of  ever  getting  back  again  seemed  a  bit 
slim,  and  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  I  shall  some  day  be 
shooting  ducks  on  the  river  once  more.  The  losses  in 
the  13th  Squadron  were  pretty  high,  but  recent  re- 
ports received  through  the  Red  Cross  make  things  look 
brighter.  Of  the  eleven  men  who  went  down  inside 
the  German  lines  up  to  the  time  of  my  leaving  the 
squadron,  six  were  not  killed  but  are  prisoners,  some 


4th  pursuit  group,  A.  E.  F.         291 

of  them  wounded,  but  just  how  badly  we  do  not  know. 
During  offensives  such  as  we  have  had  in  the  last 
couple  of  months  considerable  losses  are,  of  course,  to 
be  expected.  I  remember  that  in  my  old  French 
squadron  during  the  four  months  of  the  battle  for  the 
Passchendaele  ridge,  we  lost  nine  out  of  the  original 
fourteen,  but  of  these  nine  two  were  killed  in  accidents. 


Paris,  Dec.  1,  1918. 
Since  arriving  here  I  have  seen  my  old  friend  H- 


who  has  just  come  back  from  a  German  prison-camp. 
You  will  remember  that  I  wrote  to  you  last  spring  that 
he  had  been  shot  down  for  the  second  time,  but  had 
this  time  gone  down  behind  the  German  lines.  I  got 
from  him  the  story  of  what  happened  to  him,  and 
although  we  all  thought  he  had  already  had  about  as 
narrow  an  escape  as  a  man  could  have  and  live  to  tell 
the  tale,  he  went  it  one  better  this  time. 

H was  in  a  fight  with  some  Albatross  single- 
seaters,  and  was  diving  steeply  down  on  the  tail  of 
one  of  them.  Evidently  one  of  his  wings  was  defec- 
tive, for  a  large  part  of  the  cloth  suddenly  tore  loose 
and  ripped  off.  This  unbalanced  his  machine,  and 
he  started  to  go  down  in  a  slow  spin,  but  by  using  his 
motor  and  putting  all  his  controls  to  one  side  he  was 
able  to  right  his  plane  and  started  back  for  our  lines. 
About  this  time  the  German  ''Archies''  started  to 

take  a  hand  in  the  fight,  and  H received  a  direct 

hit  from  a  77  shell.  He  was  flying  a  type  of  plane* 
which  has  a  rotary  motor,  in  which,  as  you  know,  the 
cyUnders  are  set  about  the  crank  shaft  in  much  the 

*  Nieuport,  type  28. 


292  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

same  way  as  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  are  set  around  the 
hub.  The  shell  stuck  between  two  cylinders  but  failed 
to  explode.  It  must,  of  course,  have  been  pretty 
nearly  at  the  top  of  its  trajectory,  or  it  would  have 
knocked  the  motor  all  to  pieces  anyhow.    As  it  was, 

the  impact  tossed  H 's  plane  about  in  the  air  and 

stopped  the  motor  and  he  was  then  no  longer  able  to 
control  his  crippled  machine.  He  fell  once  more  into 
a  spin,  going  down  in  this  way  for  many  thousand  feet 
until  he  finally  crashed  in  Hunland.  His  motor  had 
been  so  nearly  carried  away  by  the  shell  that  when  he 
struck  the  ground  it  fell  off  the  machine  and  rolled 
away  to  one  side,  where  it  was  later  found  with  the 
unexploded  shell  still  stuck  between  the  cylinders. 

H himself  broke  both  his  ankles  in  the  crash,  one 

of  them  very  badly.  He  spent  several  months  in  a 
Hun  hospital  and  was  then  sent  to  a  prison-camp. 
When  I  saw  him  he  walked  with  a  slight  limp,  but  aside 
from  that  was  as  well  as  ever.  If  anybody  can  beat 
his  experiences  for  hairbreadth  escapes  I  would  like  to 
hear  about  them.  His  guardian  angel  has  certainly 
stuck  to  him  through  thick  and  thin. 

Hobe  Baker  and  some  of  the  pilots  in  his  squadron 
had  a  peculiar  fight  with  a  Hun  two-seater  a  few  days 
before  the  armistice.  They  met  him  very  high  up, 
about  20,000  feet.  Hobe  gave  him  a  burst  from  be- 
hind and  must  have  hit  the  pilot,  for  the  Hun  flopped 
over  on  his  back  and  the  observer  fell  out,  coming 
down  with  a  thud  a  considerable  distance  in  our  lines. 
The  machine  fell  upside  down  for  four  or  five  thousand 
feet,  when  the  pilot  evidently  came  to,  for  he  righted 
his  plane  and  tried  to  get  back  to  his  own  lines.  Hobe 
and  one  of  his  men  jumped  on  him  again  and  fairly 


4th  pursuit  group,  A.  E.  F.  293 

riddled  him,  and  the  Boche  finally  crashed  about  a 
mile  in  Hunland.  About  a  week  after  the  signing  of 
the  armistice  we  crossed  the  lines  and  went  up  to  the 
wreck  of  the  plane.  In  it  and  scattered  all  about  it 
we  found  a  lot  of  propaganda  leaflets,  which  the  Huns 
had  been  engaged  in  dropping  among  our  infantry 
when  they  ran  into  our  patrol.  The  leaflets  are  printed 
in  French  on  one  side  and  EngHsh  on  the  other  and 
are  headed:  ''The  German  People  Offers  Peace.''  I 
enclose  you  one  of  them.  You  will  notice  that  even 
at  this  stage  of  the  game  they  still  maintain  their  right 
to  attack  passenger  steamers  carrying  war  material.  I 
think  the  veiled  threat  contained  in  the  paragraph 
''Who  is  to  blame,  if  the  hitherto  undestroyed  towns 
and  villages  of  France  and  Belgium  sink  in  ashes?"  is 
rather  significant. 

The  practice  of  dropping  propaganda  from  aero- 
planes is  now,  of  course,  an  old  one.  I  remember 
when  we  used  to  drop  copies  of  some  of  President 
Wilson's  speeches.  You  may  recall  that  the  Huns 
once  sentenced  two  Englishmen  to  long  terms  of  im- 
prisonment who  had  been  forced  to  come  down  in  their 
lines  after  dropping  propaganda.  Is  it  not  typical  of 
the  logic  of  the  Hun  mind  that  a  man  who  drops 
bombs  is  merely  committing  an  act  of  war,  while  he 
who  drops  bits  of  paper  is  considered  a  criminal? 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  Lieut.  Fonck  pulled  through 
the  war  all  right,  and  ended  up  with  a  score  of  seventy- 
five  or  seventy-six  official  Huns,  I  am  not  sure  which. 
This  is  top  score  for  the  Allies,  and  the  highest  authen- 
tic record  of  any  one  pilot  during  the  war.  Fonck's 
actual  score  is  much  higher  even  than  this,  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  without  exaggeration  that  he  brought  down 


294  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 


The  German  People  Offers  Peace. 

The  new  German  democratic  government  has  this  programme: 

''The  will  of  the  people  U  the  highest  Itw.** 
The  Oerman.  people  wanti  quickly  to  end  the  slaughter. 
The  new  German  popular  government  therefore  has  offered  an 

Armistice 
•ad  baa  declared  itself  ready  for 

Peace 

ao  the  basis  of  justice  and  reconciliation  of  nations. 

It  is  the  will  of  the  Oerman  people  that  it  should  live  In  peace  with  •■ 
peoples^  honestly  and  loyally. 

_  What  has  the  new  German  popular  government  done  so  far  to  put  into  practice 
the  win  of  the  people  and  to  prove  its  good  and  upright  intentions? 

a)  The  new  Oerman  government  has  appealed  to  President  Wilson 

to  bring  about  peace. 

U  has  recognized  and  accepted  all  the  principles  which 
President  Wilson  proclaimed  as  a  basis  for  a  general  lasting 
peace  of  Justice  among  the  nations. 

b)  The  new  German  government  has  solemnly  declared  its  readiness  to  evacuate 
Belgium  and  to  restore  it. 

t)  The  new  German  government  is  ready  to  come  to  an  honest  understaading 
with  France  abouL 

Alsace-Lorraine 

d)  The  new  German  government  has  restricted  the  U-boat  War* 

No  passengers  steamers  not  carrying  troops 
or  war  material  will  be  attacked  in  future. 

c)  The  new  German  government  has  declared  that  it  will  withdraw  all 
Oerman  troops  back  over  the  Oerman  frontier. 

f)  —  The  new  German  government  has  asked  the  Allied  Goveraments  to 
name  commissioners  to  agree  upon  the  practical  measures  of  the 
evacuation  of  Belgium  and  France. 

These  are  the  deeds  of  the  new  Oerman  popular  government    Can 

these  be  called  mere  words,  or  bluff,  or  propaganda? 

Who  It  to  blame,  if  an  armistice  is  not  called  now? 

Who  is  to  blame  if  daily  thousands  of  brave  soldiers  needlessly  liave  to 
died  their  blood  and  die? 

Who  IS  to  blaate,  if  tiie  hitherto  andestroyed  towns  and  vUIages  «f  Fraaee 
and  Belgium  sink  in  ashes? 

Who  is  to  blame,  if  hoadradii  of  thonsands  of  tmhappy  womeil  and  Children 
era  driven  froin  their  homes  to  hunger  and  freeze? 

TheGerman  people  offers  its  hand 
for  peace. 


4th  pursuit  group,  A.  E.  F.  295 

somewhere  between  one  hundred  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty  German  machines.  I  remember  very  well  how 
in  Flanders  in  the  Fall  of  1917  he  used  to  come  back 
from  a  flight  and  ask  for  confirmations  on  sometimes 
two  and  sometimes  three  or  four  Huns  whom  he  was 
practically  certain  he  had  gotten,  and  yet  he  could 
get  only  one  of  them  confirmed.  Taking  everything 
into  consideration,  Fonck  is,  to  my  mind,  in  a  class 
by  himself  as  a  fighting  pilot.  There  have  been  many 
other  great  pilots  just  as  brave,  such  as  Guynemer 
and  Ball,  but  none  of  them  have  combined  with  it 
Fonck's  marvellous  skill.  I  know  that  up  to  the  time 
that  I  left  Groupe  12  of  the  French  Aviation,  Fonck 
had  been  hit  only  once,  having  then  gotten  one  bullet 
through  a  wing.  I  saw  Captain  DeuUin  the  other  day 
and  he  told  me  that  he  had  maintained  this  record  to 
the  end,  throughout  hundreds  of  fights.  It  is  hard  for 
one  not  familiar  with  air  fighting  to  realize  what  this 
means.  Luck  has,  of  course,  had  something  to  do 
with  it,  but  I  think  the  principal  reason  lies  in  Fonck's 
almost  uncanny  shooting  ability,  and  his  faculty  of 
almost  being  able  to  smell  a  Hun,  and  thus  always  get 
the  jump  on  him. 

I  have  been  doing  a  good  deal  of  thinking  lately 
about  the  tactics  of  air  fighting,  and  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  I  have  often  been  overcautious.  I 
know  that  if  the  war  had  gone  on  I  would  have  materi- 
ally changed  my  own  methods,  particularly  in  the 
matter  of  attacking  two-seaters.  I  have  always  tried 
to  take  them  from  the  rear  and  below,  and  to  protect 
myself  by  keeping  in  the  blind  spot  behind  their  tails. 
This  is  a  first-rate  method  if  the  Hun  does  not  see  you, 
but  the  trouble  is  to  get  there,  and  he  will  almost 


296  THE  WAY  OF  THE  EAGLE 

always  see  you  before  you  get  in  shooting  position. 
In  this  way  you  lose  the  tremendous  advantage  of  a 
surprise,  and  as  the  Hun  is  always  manoeuvring  to  try 
to  get  you  out  from  the  vulnerable  spot  beneath  his 
tail,  you  nearly  always  have  an  unsteady  target  and 
consequently  one  which  is  hard  to  hit.  Particularly  if 
one  is  above  one's  enemy  when  one  catches  sight  of 
him,  I  think  that  an  attack  carried  out  with  great  speed 
from  above  would  give  better  results.  One  would  then 
rely  for  protection  upon  the  element  of  surprise,  speed, 
and  particularly  upon  accurate  shooting.  Reliable 
machine  guns  would,  of  course,  be  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, as  they  always  are.  If  you  missed  him,  or 
anything  went  wrong,  you  would  probably  have  to 
protect  yourself  by  keeping  right  on  going  and  passing 
down  below  him.  The  shooting  would  certainly  be 
simplified,  for  the  Hun  two-seater  pilot  would  not  have 
the  same  reason  to  manoeuvre  his  plane.  For  a  green 
man  such  a  method  of  attack  would  be  rather  danger- 
ous, but  for  an  experienced  pilot  I  think  it  would  offer 
much  greater  chances  of  success,  and  I  wish  that  I 
had  come  to  this  conclusion  before  it  was  too  late  to 
try  it  out. 

Now  that  the  war  is  over  the  question  which  natu- 
rally presents  itself  to  one's  mind  is  ''Is  it  over  too 
soon?"  There  is  no  question  about  it  that  it  would 
have  been  a  great  satisfaction  if  we  could  have  gone 
on  and  gotten  into  Germany  and  given  them  a  taste 
of  what  they  have  been  giving  us  for  the  last  four 
years.  Do  you  think  the  Hujis  are  repentant  for  what 
they  have  done?  As  has  been  so  often  said,  the  Hun 
is  fundamentally  in  his  nature  a  bully,  and  like  all 
bullies  begms  to  whine  for  mercy  when  he  finds  that 


4th  pursuit  group,  A.  E.  F.         297 

he  is  getting  the  worst  of  it.  But  put  him  back  where 
he  was  in  1914  and  1915,  when  he  thought  he  was 
going  to  win,  and  he  would  commit  the  same  outrages, 
only  worse,  so  as  to  get  square  for  having  been  thwarted 
this  time. 

And  do  you  suppose  for  one  moment  that  the  Hun 
thinks  he  is  licked?  Not  a  bit  of  it  I  And  if  we  in 
future  years  forget  what  he  has  done  and  do  not  make 
him  feel  it,  he  never  will  realize  it.  The  Allies  are  the 
ones  who  will  dictate  the  terms  of  peace,  and  if  we  use 
our  power  and  make  those  terms  strong  enough,  the 
fact  that  he  is  beaten  should  be  brought  home  to  the 
Hun.  If  we  do  this,  then,  of  course,  the  war  ended 
none  too  soon,  for  satisfying  as  it  would  have  been  to 
have  invaded  Germany,  the  cost  in  the  lives  of  our 
men  would  have  been  too  great  to  have  continued  the 
fight  a  day  after  it  became  unnecessary. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 
Renewals  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


H 


LOAN 


AUG  16  1971 


0EC2  6^^"^^  ^^ 


o  o 


1^73 


K^^9    ^^^^ 


EEirnii       .      >"ipi^#§L 


T  7-»9i  A    sLH^.  9  '71  General  Library 

(P2?0m0)4?6?:-A-32  Universky  of^California 


LD  21-95w-7.'37 


a 


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'tv';''-mmm¥:m*m 


